Kingdom Infected
by GrapeFuzzBat
Summary: Sora, a former security officer for the Umbrella Corporation, is fighting for his survival after the deadly T-virus brought an end to the world as we know it. He is also determined to bring down the corrupt corporation behind the disaster: Umbrella.Hiatus
1. Prologue

A/N: Hello everyone! I'm GrapeFuzz, and this is my first fic. I'm so excited! I wasn't sure where to put this one since it's a crossover, but this idea has been brewing in my head for a very long time, and I decided to finally get it out there. It's a crossover of Kingdom Hearts and Resident Evil, following the storyline of the movies since I haven't played the games. I noticed there weren't very many RExKH fics out there, and since I specialize in crossovers, I decided to write one myself. I stuck it in Kingdom Hearts since it's following Kingdom Hearts characters. Sora is placed in the role of Alice and it mainly follows his point of view, but it may deviate in future chapters. Sorry yaoi fans, but I don't plan on pairing anyone or doing any lemons. And there's going to be a lot of violence and gore if you are faint at heart. There's most likely going to be a lot of character deaths too, so don't say I didn't warn you, and if you don't like it, then you're reading the wrong fic. Anyway, drop me a review, and I most certainly encourage constructive criticism. Enjoy!

* * *

Prologue

Pure evil. That's what they are. Pure…genuine…evil. How blissfully ignorant; how completely oblivious we were. The world was caught like a deer in headlights when all this happened. They had monopolized the industry. Their products were in every home. Their friendly messages were always on TV. "Umbrella Corp. Our business is life itself." They were there to help us…supposedly. As it was with any major organization such as this…they were lying. They're greedy…power hungry…self-centered bastards, that will go to any length or low just for their own gain. Their real motto: "Obedience breeds discipline; discipline breeds unity; unity breeds power; power is life". There was an accident within one of their facilities. They were interfering with forces not meant to be disturbed. Crisis struck. People died. But that didn't stop them. They were the new power…nothing could stop them. There was nothing we could do but survive. There was nothing left. They were falling…yet they kept taking. When there was nothing left on the outside they began destroying each other. They took from their own people. But more than anything…they kept taking everything from me. They've tormented me. They've changed me into something un-natural...a freak. I still scare myself sometimes. That's why I'm alone. Everyone I've held dear to me…everyone I've ever known is dead now. The world is over. The only reason I continue to live is because I have to bring them down. Even before any of this happened I had intended to do so. They had to be stopped. Nothing good could've ever come from what they were doing. They'll pay for all this…and I won't stop until there isn't a single trace of them left.

My name…is Sora.


	2. Awakening

Disclaimer: I don't own anything, I swear! (not even the storyline! ;) Sora, Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy characters belong to Square Enix. Resident Evil belongs to Capcom, and the movies belong to Sony Pictures and Screen Gems.

* * *

Awakening

His eyes fluttered open. He fought his way to consciousness. The blurry room gradually became clear and painfully bright. He looked around and realized he was in a bathroom, on the floor of a shower. The water was still running, and he was haphazardly tangled in the shower curtain. His head was aching. He must have fainted. He carefully rose to his feet and turned the water off, then retrieved a towel and covered himself. He took in a second view of his surroundings. For some reason, they didn't seem familiar to him at all. All he knew was that he was in a bathroom somewhere. He stepped towards the mirror, clearing away the steam that had condensed on it and studying himself. Even his own image didn't seem familiar. He didn't know who he was. He gazed back at his large blue eyes, which at the moment seemed empty, and ran his fingers through his dark brown hair. There were a few scars adorning his body. Mostly from cuts, but a couple of them looked like bullet wounds. His head throbbed as he struggled to remember why he had them, or uncover from his memory even a shred of evidence as to whom he was. His name…what was his name? His head was splitting in pain. He opened the medicine cabinet and found some pain pills. He took a couple, and then exited the bathroom.

He came into a bedroom. Again, his surroundings were unfamiliar. There were two twin beds, both neatly made, and a nightstand between them. Before anything, he wanted to clothe himself. He went over to a dresser and opened a few drawers. In them he found undergarments, socks, and undershirts; all of them clean, white, and neatly folded. He put some underwear and socks on. They seemed to fit him just right. Then he opened the bottom drawer and found something he wasn't expecting. He gasped when he saw them. Guns. Assault rifles, by the looks of them. They were locked under a glass panel and a keypad, but they were there. Why were they there? Are they his? Why would he need them? Just what is it that he does? He closed the drawer swiftly and went back to finding clothes. He opened up the closet, choosing a red tank top, black cargo pants and a denim jacket. For footwear he found a pair of heavy duty boots, and for some reason there were a lot of leather combat gloves, so he put a pair of those on for the benefit of the doubt.

He approached the nightstand after he finished dressing and found a notepad and a pen. The notepad had something written on it. "Today dreams become reality" it read. He picked up the pen and tried imitating what was written, but his handwriting didn't match it. His handwriting could've changed, since he didn't remember how he wrote; or anything before he woke up. But who else could have written it? There's two beds…does someone else live here? Does he live here? This is his house? From the looks of it, it was a pretty expensive house. What did he do for a living? Maybe he's an assassin. That would explain the guns. He frowned, set the pen back on the nightstand and left the bedroom.

He traveled out through a hallway, in which he spotted a surveillance camera on the wall, and into a wide, ornately decorated corridor. A study of sorts, where there were comfortable armchairs, a chess table, and several tables containing various decorative vases, sculptures, books and other knick-knacks. There was even a fireplace. A mansion…he lived in a mansion. He looked out one of the floor-to-ceiling windows on the right side of the room. The sun was going down. On the other end of the room it led into a foyer, where there was a large bronze sculpture of an angel covered in plastic sheets. It must be new. On one of the tables, he found a picture frame. He picked it up and studied it, finding a clue to his identity. The photo was of himself and another man, taller with messy blonde hair that was combed back, and a scar across his face. They were both in uniforms. So he was cop of some kind. This guy must be his partner. Maybe this is the person that lives with him here…the author of that note. He was busy contemplating the meaning of the note further when he saw something pass by in the reflection of the picture frame. Startled, he looked towards the foyer, where the plastic on the sculpture billowed from a draft.

"Hello…?" he called. He heard nothing but creaking. He set the picture down and cautiously went into the foyer. The wind was blowing in, causing the wooden door to creak from it being slightly ajar. He found a light switch to the outside lights and turned them on. Then he went outside. His porch was a long pathway with Corinthian columns. Apparently he and his roommate had a taste for classical Greco-roman architecture and furnishings. "Hello?" he called again, upsetting a flock of birds in the trees.

No one answered. He looked around some more, but it seemed no one else was there. It was windy; the leaves littering the pathway were blowing around. His gaze wandered towards the end of his porch, which was cloaked in darkness. A gust started blowing from the end of the pathway in his direction. It was mild at first …but then it grew stronger. He suddenly had an eerie feeling…like the end of the pathway was coming towards him. A wave of fear came over him and he hurried back inside.

Once inside, he backed away from the door cautiously, harboring the fear that he was not alone. Perhaps it was the fact that he was alone that was the source of this fear, but he swore to himself that he saw someone. He kept his eyes fixed on the door to the outside, backing slowly towards the study. After a while, he breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed no one was there. No sooner had he thought this when a pair of hands grabbed him from behind.

He cried out, struggling, thrashing and kicking. His attacker dragged him back into the study. "Who are you?! Let go of me!" he shouted. "Move!" his attacker barked, continuing to drag him across the room. A window shattered and he saw an object skid across the floor. A metal disk-looking device. He didn't have time to figure out what it was before it exploded in a cloud of smoke. "Get down!" His attacker yelled, pushing the both of them to the floor. More glass shattered, and a team of commandos dressed head to toe in black, carrying guns and wearing gas masks, crashed through the windows. The man who grabbed him was pulling a handgun, but a few of the commandos seized him and pinned him to the floor. "What are you doing? I'm a cop!" The man shouted. They ignored his protests and cuffed him. "I told you, I'm a cop!" he repeated, growling.

He had scurried off to the side of the room, observing the whole scene frightened and bewildered. What was the meaning of all this? He got a good look at the guy who attacked him. He was tall, a bit pale, and had really spiky blonde hair. He wore black slacks and a powder blue button-up shirt. The guy certainly didn't look like a cop. He looked around. One of the commandos was messing with a mechanism he'd found in the wall, and looking at some sort of device on his arm. One more commando came in from the outside through a window and approached him directly. He looked up at the masked figure. "Report." They said. Report? What did that mean? Was he really going to be arrested? His head ached. He couldn't remember anything. The commando grabbed him and pulled him to his feet. "Report now." They repeated. The voice was deep. Male.

"What?" he asked, because he really couldn't understand what he was supposed to say. The commando shook him. "I want your report, soldier."

"I don't know what you're talking about." He replied.

The commando that was toying with the mechanism in the wall spoke. "Sir, the house's primary defenses are active. He's probably still suffering the side effects."

His head swam. What the hell were they talking about? The guy who had a hold of him was apparently the leader. The commando leader looked at him again, and then shoved him away from the wall, grabbing hold of him and escorting him over to where the others were. He wished this was all just a bad dream and that he would wake up and remember everything, and move on with his normal life. That wasn't happening anytime soon.

"What are you doing with us?" The cop asked. Us? So after the guy attacked him, he's apparently an acquaintance now? This had to be some sort of horrible nightmare. He bit his lip, commanding his brain to wake up. Wake up! Nothing happened.

"What about the cop?" the leader inquired. The other commando studied the device on his arm, which was a sort of computer. "Cloud Strife." He answered. "I'm not getting a match."

One of the commandos subduing the cop pulled a pistol and aimed at the cop. "Who are you?" They demanded. "I just transferred. They probably don't even have me on file yet!" Cloud snapped.

"The locals are inefficient. It's possible" One of the other commandos said.

The one subduing the cop with the gun cocked it threateningly. "Should I secure him here?" They asked.

The leader removed his mask and he studied his features. He was bald, swarthy, and had dark facial hair. He looked at his I.D. badge, discovering that they wore them. It read "Sgt. Rude". He wished he had an I.D. badge so that he could remember his own name.

"No. We'll take him with us." Rude replied.

The commando subduing Cloud disarmed and put away the gun. "You can't do this!" Cloud protested. The commando removed his mask. The guy had a mane of brown hair, a similar color to his own, and a scar across the bridge of his nose that went in the opposite direction of his roommate's. He remembered from the photo.

The commando bent down to Cloud and said, "Blow me."

By now they must have concluded that it was safe, because they all started taking off their masks. Most of them were men. There was one woman. All together there were six of them. He and Cloud were led over to a mirrored wall. The rest of them followed.

"Prep for entrance into the Hive." Rude ordered. The guy with the computer device on his arm entered in a code, and the mirrored wall opened. A few of the guys went first, their weapons ready. Then he and Cloud were lead into the door, where they went down some concrete steps. The rest of the team entered and the wall closed behind them.


	3. The Hive

A/N: Phew, this took a long time! I wanted to make this chapter longer, so that I can finish the first part of the story in as few chapters as possible. Of course, I still have a long way to go. But here's chapter 2. Enjoy!

-Grape Fuzz

Diclaimer: Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy characters belong to Square Enix. Resident Evil belongs to Capcom. The movies belong to Screen Gems, and the dialogue belongs to the original script writers. (I don't know their names).

* * *

The Hive

The steps led down to a warehouse of some kind. He was allowed to walk around freely, but one of them remained behind him for security. Cloud however remained handcuffed and they kept a tight hold on him. He didn't blame them. The guy did brake into his house and practically assault him. He wondered why the team had to break through his windows. Most likely because they didn't know what the situation was and they didn't know what to expect. Something bad must have happened…

With their faces uncovered, he was able to identify them. He made sure to get a good look at all their ID's. The leader he knew now was Rude. The guy with the hand-held computer was apparently their technician. He was tanned and had shoulder-length ash-blonde hair, and his name was Tidus. The one following him had spiked up blonde hair and a tribal-looking tattoo on the left side of his face. His name was Zell. The guy with brown hair and a scar on his face that was responsible for keeping Cloud in check was named Leon, and he was the team's marksman. He wasn't sure why they had a "marksman" since all of them carried guns, but he was guessing that Leon was the best. There was one more guy, very heavily built and dark with red hair, named Wakka. He was rear security. The woman was the team's medic. She had brown hair that flipped out at the ends, and her name was Selphie.

Most of the guys went ahead of them and scanned the area with their weapons at the ready. As they did so, he walked through the warehouse, taking in his surroundings. Metal cases, boxes, and barrels were stacked everywhere with bio-hazard warnings all over them. He wondered if he knew about this place before he had lost his memory. He also saw a logo of some kind in the facility: a red and white octagon. Some of the cases had the name of the company that the materials belonged to: the Umbrella Corporation. He rubbed his temple, trying to figure out why he was storing these things hidden in a warehouse underneath his house, if he was just a cop. Or perhaps he actually worked for this company? His pondering didn't bring him any closer to remembering anything, and he had yet to find out what was really going on. He decided that once he got the chance, he would ask.

Beyond a concrete wall in the warehouse was a small train car. Tidus and Rude went ahead while the rest of the team continued to check the area. Rude scanned the area beyond the train while Tidus looked at a large timer on the wall that read "2:48:42". 2 hours, 48 minutes and 42 seconds. Tidus synchronized his watch with the timer, opened the door of the train, and went inside, immediately heading for the control panel at the front. Rude, Leon and Cloud, and the rest of the team followed behind, two of them carrying in one of the cases, as well as a large black duffel bag. He was led in by Zell, wondering what they were going to do and where they were going to take him.

"The power is down." Tidus announced to Rude.

"Then fix it." The leader replied.

"I'm on it." Leon responded, as he withdrew a flashlight and hopped down through the doors in the floor of the train. Cloud was left under the supervision of Zell. Under the train, Leon fumbled with the power cables with the flashlight in his mouth. In the midst of his task however, he heard a noise. He looked ahead momentarily to find the source of the sound, but he saw nothing. He connected the power cables, and then he heard it again…only louder. Since he was finished with the cables, he took his flashlight and crouched down, trying to identify the noise. He noticed there was a hole in the grating…which was a tell-tale sign of rats. The noise sounded like a scratching, as if something was scurrying under the tracks. It was probably just a rat then. He concluded the coast was clear and rose, then was startled by Zell as he dangled his head down through the doors in a rather obnoxious manner.

"Are you done yet?" Zell asked. Leon breathed a sigh of relief as his nerves calmed.

Zell laughed. "Jumpy?" Leon grinned and pulled the switch for the power and Zell was chased back up through the doors by the loud crack of electricity. Leon followed laughing, and climbed back up through the doors.

The train powered up and everyone was inside, so it seemed they were about to leave. "Stand clear!" Tidus called as he hit a switch and closed the doors, then he went back to the control panel and input commands, and the train began to move.

He and Cloud settled down on the floor of the train as it screeched along the tracks, watching the team since there was nothing better to look at. Leon was tugging on a door at the back of the train violently, but it didn't look like he was having much luck with it. The marksman tugged and grunted until he was tired, and then he gave up with it, heaving a sigh. He noticed that him and Cloud were watching him and gave them a glare. "You got a problem?" he asked menacingly. The guy seemed to have a pretty bad attitude.

"How's that door?" Rude inquired.

"It's sealed shut. I can't get it open." Leon replied.

"Let me try." Zell said, approaching the door. Leon stepped aside, giving the blonde a smirk, and in return, Zell winked at him. Those two must be good friends.

Zell gave the door a hard pull, and then he started tugging even harder, grunting with the strain. Suddenly the door flew open and a body fell on him. Zell let out a shocked yelp and leaped out of the way, pulling his handgun on the "attacker". The man fell to the floor…he was unconscious. Zell kept his gun aimed at the man, breathing heavily. "Jumpy?" Leon teased. Zell shot an annoyed look at Leon, who simply grinned.

He recognized the unconscious man. It was the same man from the photo…blonde combed back hair, and a scar across his face in the opposite direction of Leon's. It was his partner. Just seeing his face awakened a shred of memory within him…

"…_back up! We need back up!"_

"_Are you alright? Hang in there, we're getting help."_

"_He's bleeding pretty badly…"_

His hand wandered to his scars as images continued to flash through his mind.

_ "Come on, we're getting you out of here…get up, I've got you."_

_ "Seifer…"_

_ "It's alright. You're gonna be okay."_

Seifer…that was his name. Though his head ached, he was relieved that he finally remembered something. But he wished he could remember his own name still. He massaged his forehead, willing the pain to subside. Cloud leaned over and met his gaze.

"Hey…are you alright?" the blonde cop asked.

"Y-yeah. I'm fine…it's just a headache."

Seifer woke with a groan and began spasming. Selphie, the medic, crouched down to him and withdrew a flash light. "Lie still. Lie still!" She commanded. Once he came to, Seifer relaxed. Selphie checked his pupils. "Follow the light." "Now how many fingers am I holding up?"

"Three."

"Good. Now tell me your name."

The man furrowed his brow in deep thought. "I…I don't know."

"He's fine. Memory loss. Just like the other one." She reported.

Seifer sat up slowly, massaging the back of his head…until he noticed his partner. They met gazes awkwardly, neither fully remembering the other.

The train began to slow as it rolled into its destination. Leon and Rude kept watch outside the door as the train approached the platform and stopped. He noticed there were more materials being stored in this station. The front-men of the team went ahead of everyone, scanning the area for danger once again. As they did so, another surveillance camera followed their every movement, collecting data on their vital stats, their identities, and what weapons they were carrying. Leon headed up the steps first, while the others remained behind until it was clear. Leon gave the signal for the okay.

"Let's get that door open" Rude commanded, referring to the heavy security door at the top of the steps. Leon and Zell got to work on the door while the rest of the team covered them for security.

He approached Rude. Now was the time to get some answers. "Listen to me," he said, "I want to know who you people are, and I want to know what's going on here."

Rude was focused on the task at hand and ignored him. He bit his lip and grabbed Rude's gun to get his attention. "Now."

Rude looked at him and recognized his determination. He began to explain. "You and I have the same employer. We all work for the Umbrella Corporation. An international pharmaceutical enterprise."

Seifer listened intently. He too wanted some answers.

"The mansion above us is an emergency entrance to the Hive. You two are security operatives, placed there to protect that entrance. I realize you don't remember, but you both had different jobs, as cover up to protect the secrecy of the Hive.

"And what is the Hive?" Seifer asked.

"Show them." Rude told Tidus.

Tidus had out a laptop, which he was using to crack the code for the door, but he halted and brought up a different screen. "Accessing schematic of the Hive."

A 3D layout of the mansion showed up on the screen, and he and Seifer watched it attentively.

"Raccoon city is the nearest urban center." Rude continued. "This mansion is where we found you, and through which we gained access to the train, which in turn brought us to the Hive. The Hive itself is located underground, deep beneath the streets of Raccoon city. It is a top secret research facility owned and operated by the Umbrella Corporation. The Hive houses over five-hundred technicians, scientists, and support staff, who live and work underground. Their research is of the highest importance. Its nature is…classified."

He and Seifer watched as the computer showed them the layout of the monstrous research facility that lay beneath the earth. It was appropriately named...the structure of The Hive somewhat resembled that of a beehive, containing many tiers that were sized from large to small.

"Our position on the map is indicated by a heat signature." Rude said as he pointed to where they were on the screen.

"Why can't I remember anything?" Seifer asked.

"The Hive has its own defense mechanisms…all computer-controlled. A nerve gas was released into the house."

He remembered being gassed while he was in the shower and fainting. That explained why he woke up on the floor in the bathroom.

"The primary effect of the gas is complete unconsciousness lasting anything up to four hours. Secondary affects are varied, but can include acute memory loss."

"For how long?"

"Subjective. An hour, day, week."

"So you're saying this place was attacked?" Cloud asked. He had been listening as well.

"I'm afraid things are a little more complicated than that." Rude answered.

They were interrupted by Leon. "Sir. We've breached the Hive." He announced.

The security door lifted open, revealing to them a cloak of blackness. They all crowded around the entrance, but Rude and Zell were positioned just inside of the door. Rude nodded to the blonde, tattooed soldier, who flipped a night-vision scope over his right eye, proceeding into the darkness cautiously. They waited for him for a few minutes until he gave a signal. "Got it!" he called.

A light flickered on. It looked like a window you would see at an office building, but was really nothing more than the backlit image of a cityscape covered with some blinds to make it look like a window. The overhead lights came on as well. Zell took the scope off his head and put it back in his supplies pack.

The team moved into the room first and checked the area. He, Cloud and Seifer followed behind. "Halon content has dissipated." Selphie reported, looking at a digital meter. He wondered what she meant by that. Perhaps it was the nerve gas that Rude was talking about. Rude and Zell worked on opening the elevator doors, and the rest of the team took their usual positions for security. Cloud had wandered over to the "window" so he joined him in order to be out of the way. It was actually a pretty good trick. "It makes it easier to work underground thinking there's a view." Cloud said to him. Leon gave Cloud a suspicious look for some reason.

Rude and Zell finally wrenched the elevator doors open. Zell lit a flare and dropped it down the shaft, and they discovered the fallen elevator at the bottom of the shaft. "Looks like we're taking the stairs."

* * *

As promised, they headed down a flight of stairs. By now, they were all used to taking certain positions when they traveled, though this time Rude brought up the rear. "Status." The leader commanded.

"Red Queen is locked onto us. She knows that we're here." Tidus responded.

"Who is the Red Queen?" He asked Rude. That was a detail he'd left out.

"The Red Queen is a state-of-the-art computer with a high level artificial intelligence. She is the central computer system that monitors and controls the Hive." Rude answered.

Once they arrived at the bottom of the stairs, they passed through a hallway that contained a laboratory. The only problem was that the lab was completely filled with murky water, and some of it was leaking out onto the floor through holes in the windows.

"This is gonna slow us down." Tidus said. "Our route to the Queen takes us straight through these labs."

"Leon, Zell, see how bad the flooding is." Rude ordered. "Tidus, you find us an alternate route."

Leon and Zell disappeared around the corner of the hallway, and so the rest of them stayed put and waited.

"What happened here?" Seifer asked.

He and Cloud listened with renewed curiosity.

"Five Hours ago, Red Queen went homicidal. She sealed the Hive and killed everyone down here." Rude answered.

"Jesus Christ." Seifer cursed.

"When we realized what was happening, my team was dispatched to shut her down."

That confirmed his notion of something bad happening. No wonder why they made such an abrupt entrance. They probably brought him with them because they needed his help. He just wished the effects of the nerve gas would wear off soon so that he could have a chance of knowing what to do. That way he wouldn't just be in their way.

"Why did she do it?" He asked.

"That we don't know. But outside interference is a possibility." Rude said.

Cloud was suddenly startled and he dashed away from the window. They looked and saw why. The dead body of a woman had floated over to the window. He felt sickened by the sight of it…so he went over to a more secluded part of the room. Seifer noticed him and expressed some concern.

"Hey. Are you okay?"

"Yeah. I think so." He answered. An awkward silence followed, and he decided to ask his partner something. "Do you…do you remember anything? From before…this?"

Seifer furrowed his brow. "No. Nothing before the train. And you?"

"No. Not a thing." He said, even though he did remember his partner's name, but he was sure that Seifer probably remembered that by now too.

"I found an alternate route, but it's going to cost us time." Tidus told Rude. "If we double back, and cut through dining hall B, we'll be right on track."

In the midst of their conversation, Cloud heard a disturbing sound. It sounded like something moaning. His eyes trailed to the air vent in the ceiling, where he heard the sound growing louder. It gave him a terrible sensation that crawled up his spine. It grew louder and louder still…

"Sir. It's no go, the whole level is flooded." Leon reported. He had returned with Zell.

"All right then. We're behind schedule, so let's move it." Rude ordered. The team obeyed the command and followed him. He and Seifer exchanged friendly smiles as they followed everyone. Zell and Leon brought up the rear, and paused at the window to pay their respects to the dead inside. "Poor bastards." Leon said, and they moved on.

Unbeknownst to them, the dead woman opened her eyes and put a hand on the glass.

* * *

So they back tracked as Tidus had advised and went in a different direction. They moved quickly, since apparently they only had a short amount of time. Soon they had reached dining hall B. Tidus entered in a code at the door and got them inside. He followed them in and looked around. All of them were confused. It didn't look like a dining hall in the slightest. It was very cold, a mist had formed on the ground, and there were tank-like machines everywhere that looked like refrigeration units of some kind.

"Tidus what is this?" Rude inquired.

"It reads dining hall B on the map." The technician answered.

"Maybe you're reading it wrong." Zell suggested.

"Maybe the corporation is keeping a few secrets down here." Cloud said. "Something you're not supposed to see."

Rude eyed the cop skeptically. "Zell, you and Leon keep the prisoner here and secure the exit." He ordered. The two front-men took Cloud over to a space that was off to the side and where it was easy to keep an eye on him.

"Sir, halon levels are nonexistent in this room." Selphie reported. "I think the system malfunctioned."

"All right then. There might be survivors." Rude said. "Give me a search line, but keep it tight."

Everyone except Zell, Leon and Cloud proceeded forward, moving in between the rows of tanks.

Once again, he walked freely, taking in his surroundings. As far as he knew, all of this was new to him. The nerve gas still hadn't worn off, and he didn't expect it to anytime soon. Out of curiosity, he approached one of the tanks, peering in through the small glass window. Inside was something grotesque. He didn't know what it was, but it was alive. It pulsated as various tubes fed liquids into it. It looked like a monster of some kind, but he couldn't tell. Why would they be keeping something like this in here?

He gasped when he noticed Rude was at his side, looking into the tank. The leader looked at him sternly and said, "I said keep it tight."

"Sorry." He said. He looked into the tank at the creature again. "I'm not sure I want to remember went on down here." He told the leader.

Rude looked into the tank, and then back at him. "I don't blame you. But we need to get moving. Come on."

In a short amount of time, they reached the central control room, where the computer mainframe was. As Tidus worked at the computer to crack the code on the door, He peered through the door that lead to the Queen's chamber.

"What's taking so long?" Selphie asked impatiently.

"The Red Queen's defenses are in place." Tidus answered. "She's making it difficult."

Not long after the technician said this, they heard a beep and the door opened. He stepped aside so the team could get in, and went over to stand next to Tidus.

"Let's pack it up." Rude commanded. Selphie and Wakka opened up the metal case that they had been carrying and removed its contents, placing the device in the black duffel bag. Rude proceeded cautiously down the narrow corridor that lead to the chamber. There could be another defense mechanism in place, so he moved very slowly. Suddenly, a set of lights came on and he crouched low, looking around frantically. The leader looked back at Tidus and mouthed, "what the-?"

The technician checked the computer. "The lights are automated. It's nothing to worry about." He said reassuringly. Rude proceeded to move forward, but he kept his guard up. In no time at all, he reached the door, and put a transmitter in place so that Tidus could crack the code.

"Transmitter in position."

"Roger. Running the bypass."

He watched as Tidus worked in fascination. The guy was really good at his job. One by one, the code for the door appeared, and Tidus input the numbers into the door's control station. "Checkmate." The technician said, when he finally cracked it.

The door cranked open and Rude strafed by, checking the chamber for any sign of danger. "Move up." The leader signaled when the coast was clear.

He watched Selphie and Wakka carry in the duffel bag. "What is that?" he asked Tidus.

"That's what's going to shut the Queen down. It delivers a massive electrical charge, scrambling the mainframe and forcing it to reboot." Tidus explained.

He nodded as he caught on, but looked up when he heard the security door close. Hadn't the code already been breached?

"Tidus?" Rude called. The door to the chamber shut as well. They were trapped. "Tidus!"

"It's some kind of dormant defense mechanism. We must have tripped it when we opened the door."

"Put it back to sleep!"

"I'm working on it."

A siren started blaring, and one of the screens read "weapons system activated". He hurried back over to the door to see what was going on, as Tidus frantically worked to get the door back open.

"Would you open that door now please?!" Seifer said apprehensively. "I'm trying." Tidus said as calmly as he could.

"Hold your positions and stay calm." Rude ordered. Wakka looked down to they end of the corridor and noticed something strange. "What's that?" A bright light was glowing and coming from the walls. The area around it grew dark.

"Tidus, quick! We gotta get them out of there!" He yelled back to the technician. "You have to hurry, you've got to help them!"

"Come on!" Seifer snapped.

Tidus worked as fast as he could, sensing that his comrades were in grave danger.

The light formed into a laser and started coming towards them. "Get down! Get down!" Rude yelled.

He and Seifer continued to shout down Tidus in their panic. "Tidus, there's something killing them in there, you've gotta hurry!" "Jesus, come on man!"

They were on the floor and Wakka was trembling. He had ducked a bit too late and the tips of his fingers had been sliced off. "Medic! Medic! SELPHIE!" Rude barked. Selphie didn't hear a thing. She was standing completely still, and a red line was forming around her neck, until finally her head rolled off her shoulders and her lifeless body fell to the floor.

"Open the door!"

"Get this door open now!"

"I'm trying!"

Rude tried to comfort Wakka, as he pulled the heavy man to his feet. "Stay conscious…you're going into shock…do you hear me, stay awake!"

"I'm almost there!" Tidus said.

"It's…It's coming back." Wakka said. Sure enough, the laser was heading towards them again, only this time it was lower. The two of them started backing up frantically.

"Do it!

"I'm trying!

"Well try harder!"

Wakka tried to jump over the laser, but it came up with him and sliced his mid-section in half. He fell to the floor, dead. Rude grabbed onto an air vent in the ceiling and pulled himself up before the laser could hit him. It just barely missed him and cut clean through a knife that was on his belt. Once it passed him by, he jumped down, but was ready for the next one.

"Do it now!"

"I'm almost there."

The laser came towards him again.

"Come on!"

Unexpectedly, the laser formed into a grid. There was no avoiding it now. "Shit." Was all the leader could say. He was done for.

"Got it!" Tidus said, just before the lasers sliced through Rude. The weapons were deactivated, but it was too late. Rude's body fell to pieces onto the floor. He watched through the door in horror, feeling like he was about to be sick. Once Tidus got the door opened, he backed away from it, trembling. Tidus and Seifer looked on in shock. Their teammates were dead.

Tidus took a deep breath. "All right…let's do it."

Seifer looked at Tidus like something was crawling out of his ears. "Do what?"

"We have to complete the mission."

"There is no way I'm going down there."

"Her defenses are down!"

"Déjà vu, anyone?!"

Tidus bit his lip, breathing heavily. "Fine then." The technician said. "I'll do it." Anyone could see that he was terrified.

He felt bad for Tidus, since he put so much pressure on him the whole time he was trying to open the door. The guy did the best he could after all, even if it wasn't enough to save his comrades. He followed the technician through the corridor, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. The least he could do was help him after what had just happened.

The two of them reached the door with the duffel bag, and Tidus opened it up again. They went inside cautiously, so that they wouldn't trigger another defense mechanism. The only thing that happened was the door closing and locking behind them. "Keep going." He told Tidus reassuringly, who nodded and proceeded towards the center of the room. The technician set the duffel bag down and got to work cracking codes once again. Soon the mainframe tower opened up and rose out of the floor. "Give me a hand with this." Tidus asked. He nodded and helped the technician put the device into place and install all its components.

A camera caught on to their actions and projected a red hologram in front of them. "Get out! Get out! You can't be in here!" it said.

He turned around and saw the image of a little girl in a white dress with blonde hair swept to one side. "Don't listen to anything she says." Tidus warned him. "She's a holographic representation of the Red Queen."

"You have to get out." She said again.

"She was modeled after the head programmer's deceased daughter, Namine." Tidus continued. "She'll try to deceive us, and confuse us."

"I wouldn't advise this." The Queen said. "Disabling me will result in loss of primary power."

"She'll say anything to stop us from shutting her down" Tidus said.

"I implore you."

"Implore away."

The child started pleading. "Please?" Tidus got the switch ready to shut her down. "Please?" She turned and looked at them menacingly. "You're all going to die down here."

Tidus hit the switch before she could say anything more, and the power was cut off completely. Slowly, the emergency lights came on as a secondary power source booted up. Every door in the facility opened…and silhouettes danced in the seemingly empty halls of the Hive.


	4. The Walking Dead

A/N: Woo hoo, Chapter 3! I had to bump up the rating because of Leon's potty-mouth in this chapter. He's such a bad boy. XD For those of you that reviewed, thank you very much! I was really wondering how I was doing with this so far. I realize also that it may be getting a little confusing. I'm writing it, and I'm getting confused! So just to clear things up a bit, the subject "he" is refering to Sora, unless one of the other male characters is talking or doing something and the narrator switches over to them. So here it is, chapter 3!

Disclaimer: I own nothing. KH and FF Square Enix. RE Capcom. Movies and dialogue Screen Gems, Davis Films, and Constantin Films.

* * *

The Walking Dead

Tidus knelt beside the tower. "That pulse forces the circuit breaker to shut down her mainframe for 30 seconds." he explained. "After that if I don't have her board, she can reboot." He watched as the technician ejected the computer's motherboard from the tower, taking it out and putting it in the duffel bag. They left the EMP device in the tower and exited the Queen's chamber, paying their final respects to their dead teammates as they passed them by.

…

Leon picked at traces of dirt under his fingernails with his knife as he, Cloud and Zell waited in the "dining hall" for their teammates to return. "They're late." Zell said. Leon looked at his watch. They had been gone for almost half an hour. What was taking them so long? His thoughts were interrupted when he heard a clatter off in the distance. All three of them turned their heads in the direction of the noise, but saw nothing. The tanks obstructed their view. Leon sheathed his knife and cocked his gun. "I'm on it."

The marksman proceeded in the direction that the noise came from with his weapon at the ready. Stepping over the ventilation tubing on the floor, he scanned around every corner he passed by. The clatter came again. He was getting closer…he looked left…then right…left…right…and again he heard the clatter. He discovered the source when he saw a metal can roll across the floor at the end of the room. He swiftly rounded the corner of a tank with his gun aimed, and saw a woman in a dirty lab-coat leaning flaccidly up against a pillar.

"Zell, we've got a survivor!" Leon yelled back to his partner. The coast was clear, so he lowered his weapon. He approached the woman, hearing her ragged breathing. She was injured. "It's okay, we're here to help." He said to her. She limped over to him and began to fall, so he caught her and helped her up, putting his gun down on the floor. He held her head up and said, "You seem to be in some serious—"

The woman hissed and clamped her teeth into his hand. "Aaaaaaahhh!"

Leon shoved the woman off of him but she tackled him down to the floor. He grabbed a hold of her throat to keep her from biting him again, and she hissed and gurgled at him. "Get off of me!" he yelled. "Get the fuck off me you crazy bitch!" He rolled over trying to pry the woman off of him, but she kept a tight grip on him. Zell rushed over to help him. "Zell, get her off of me before I stab her ass!" Leon snapped. Zell pulled the woman up by her coat and shoved her away. She rolled to the floor, and he helped Leon up.

"You okay?"

"She…she bit me, man!" Leon exclaimed, showing Zell his bloody hand. "She took a chunk clean right out of me!"

Zell glared at the woman and cocked his hand gun, aiming it at her. "Stay down." He demanded. The woman was slowly getting to her feet, continuing to hiss and growl at them. "I'm warning you, stay down!" Zell shouted at her.

"She's out of her fucking skull." Leon said. The woman got up and started staggering towards them.

"Come any closer, and I'll fire." Zell threatened. The woman ignored him and continued to come toward them at a slow pace. "I mean it!" Zell barked. She snarled at him as she continued to move closer.

"Damn you…" Zell muttered as he aimed low and pulled the trigger, shooting the woman through the thigh. The woman stopped moving, but she barely even staggered and didn't fall to the ground. She looked up at him and growled loudly. The bullet only made her mad.

Both Zell's and Leon's eyes bulged. "What the fuck?" Leon mouthed. Zell backed up. She was moving towards him again. He shot her in the other leg. She screamed at them this time, moving closer still…

Zell shot her in the legs three more times until Leon retrieved his assault rifle and opened fire on her. She flew backwards into a pile of tubing and lay motionless.

…

He and Tidus had reached the dining hall, and they heard gun shots. They looked at each other momentarily, before they rushed past all the tanks and found Zell, Leon and Cloud. Leon was bandaging up his hand. Seifer caught up to them.

"I shot her five times…how was she still standing?" Zell said. The blonde had a shocked look on his face.

"Well, the bitch isn't standing now." Leon said.

"What happened? What was all the shooting?" Tidus asked.

"We found a survivor." Leon replied.

"And you shot them?"

Leon glared at Tidus. "She was crazed. She bit me."

Cloud spotted a set of keys on the floor. They might be the keys to his handcuffs. Leon must have dropped them when he was struggling with the woman.

"She's gone…" Zell said, looking at the pile of tubes where the woman fell. Sure enough, she had disappeared. "She's gone!"

"That's bullshit!" Leon snapped, going over to the pile to confirm it.

"She fell right here, but she's gone!" Zell repeated.

He noticed something on the floor and crouched down to look at it. "Hey guys, look at this." He told the others. "There's blood here…but it's not much."

Cloud crouched down beside him and studied the blood on the floor. "Looks like it's coagulated."

He looked closer and noticed the blood was curdled and had a lot of clots in it. "Yeah…it does." He said.

"It's not possible." Cloud said, taking the opportunity to pick up the keys unnoticed.

Zell came over to where they were. "Why not?" he asked in a heated tone.

Cloud stood up and turned to Zell. "Because blood doesn't do that until after you're dead." He answered.

"Can we go now?" Seifer asked impatiently.

"We're not going anywhere until the rest of the team gets here." Leon answered, loading up his gun with a new magazine.

He, Tidus and Seifer exchanged uncomfortable looks. Tidus decided to break the bad news to them. "There's no one else coming." He said.

Leon looked at him, his eyes flared with disbelief. "What the fuck are you talking about?" he said, about to approach the technician. Zell placed a hand on Leon's shoulder, holding him back. "Wait! Keep quiet…"

He was about to ask Zell what was wrong, but then he heard it too. They all heard it, and they looked around, trying to figure out where it was coming from. It was the sound of something metal being dragged across the floor. And then they saw what it was. It was a man…he was in dirty white clothes, and there were spots of blood on them. He was dragging an ax, and walking on his broken ankle—which made nauseating cracking sounds—as if nothing was wrong with him. They all stared at the man in horror as he continued to move towards them with an empty expression.

As he and the others looked around, more people started appearing…but they didn't look like they were people anymore. They all had the same empty expression, the same wilted posture, they all moaned and growled, and they all moved slowly. Some of them had horrendous injuries and mutilations too. They weren't human anymore. They were creatures…monsters.

Leon, Zell and Tidus got their guns ready as the creatures closed in on them. He, Cloud and Seifer were unarmed, so they stayed close to the three commandos.

"Fuck…" Seifer whispered as he looked around frantically.

"Don't come any closer!" Tidus warned the creatures. As suspected, he was completely ignored.

"They're behind us." Seifer called.

Cloud fumbled with the keys behind his back, trying to unlock his handcuffs so that he would have a chance of defending himself.

"They're everywhere…" He said. He didn't know how much good it would do to warn them since they practically knew already, but he felt he had to say something. "You guys, they're everywhere! We're surrounded!"

The woman from before attacked Leon, flailing and trying to bite him again. The marksman got a firm grip on the side of her head and twisted, breaking her neck. She fell to the floor motionless.

Leon steadily aimed his gun at the man with the ax and opened fire. Zell followed suit, and they shot down the undead creatures that came the closest first. The only problem was that they kept getting back up and coming towards them again. Tidus had his handgun out and began shooting as well. He, Cloud and Seifer remained within the circle of their protection. He watched as the creatures were shot again and again, continuing to get back up every time. "Why aren't they dying?!" He shouted over the gunfire. Cloud continued to fumble with the keys in desperation.

Bullets were flying in every direction as they continued to shoot the creatures down, only to have them continue to get back up. Stray bullets punched holes in one of the refrigeration tanks, and a gas began leaking out of it with a hiss. He had a feeling that it would be bad if that tank were damaged any further. "Watch the tank! The tank!" he yelled. Bullets continued to shower the tank, and more gas leaked out uncontrollably. They heeded his warning and started shouting to each other to get moving.

"Let's go, move it!

"Hurry up! Come on, let's go!"

He noticed Cloud standing still preoccupied with something, and went over to help him out of the way. He took him by the arm and pulled him along, following the others, who had gotten far ahead of them. "Move, come on. We're getting out of here."

The two of them had barely caught up with the others when the tank behind them exploded, sending them flying to the floor. Several of the creatures had been next to the tank when it went off and they had caught on fire, but they continued to move. He covered his head to shield himself from flying debris, but he had taken a hard hit in the head when he fell. Something else came back to him…

"_I can help you get the virus…"_

He saw a graveyard with stone angels. And he saw himself in the graveyard, wrapped in a black cloak and speaking to a woman with mid-length light brown hair.

"_I can help you get the virus. I have access to security codes, surveillance plans…the works."_

He had no time to figure out what it meant. He looked up and saw that Cloud was gone, so he slowly got to his feet and went to go find him. This room was very big, and it was easy to get lost.

Up ahead, the others continued to shoot down the creatures as they moved through the room, trying to find a means of escaping. Tidus noticed that he and Cloud were missing. "We lost the other two!" he called.

"Just keep moving!" Zell shouted back.

Tidus spotted Seifer standing next to a door and ran over to him. "Why did you wait?"

"I didn't know the code." Seifer answered.

Tidus frantically started punching numbers in the key pad. "Come on, come on…Shit!"

Seifer harassed him. "Come on man, hurry up."

"Shit!"

Leon and Zell were practically backed into a corner. "Hurry up, I'm running out of ammo!" Leon yelled.

"What's taking so long?!" Zell shouted to the technician. "I'm trying!" he yelled back.

Tidus continued to put in codes, one failing after the other. He couldn't concentrate enough. "Shit…SHIT!"

After searching thoroughly while trying to avoid the creatures, he spotted Cloud. The cop was trapped underneath a shelf, kicking away a few of the creatures that were trying to crawl under and get him. He noticed that Cloud was no longer handcuffed, but right now all they needed to worry about was staying alive. Besides, he didn't seem very suspicious anymore, once they'd kept him under control.

He rushed over to help Cloud, grabbing a hold of his bicep and pulling him out from under the shelf. He caught sight of a large hole that had blown in the wall and a gas leaking out of it. He looked at Cloud and said, "Come on, let's catch up with the others."

Zell ran over to Tidus and pushed him aside. "Come on, what's the code?" he asked urgently. Tidus covered him from behind as he shouted out numbers. "Zero, four, three, two—no, five!"

"Hurry up, dammit!" Leon yelled.

"What? What is it?!" Zell barked.

"Zero, four, three—"

Seifer went over to the technician. "What is the code?!"

"ZERO, FOUR…ZERO, THREE, ONE…NINE, SIX, FIVE!"

Zell input the code and heard a beep for confirmation. "Got it. See how easy that was?" The door slid open and he was pulled in by a bunch of grabbing hands. There were more of the creatures inside.

"Shit!"

"Zell, no!" Leon yelled, charging over to get his partner. Zell continued to be pulled in by the horde of creatures, and Leon reached out his hand. "Grab my hand, man!" Zell grabbed on and held as hard as he could. He was being scratched and bitten all over. "Don't let go!" he yelled. Leon pulled as hard as he could, but Zell was being pulled the other way by many more hands. One of the creatures bit Leon's arm and he howled in pain, losing his grip on Zell's hand.

"Leon! Leon!" Zell screamed.

"ZEEEELL!!"

Leon tried to go back in, but Tidus and Seifer pulled him away. The marksman struggled as much as he could, not wanting to lose his friend. It was too late, though. He heard Zell screaming as the creatures tore him to pieces…until the door closed again and he was gone forever.

In the distance, there was a loud banging. One of the monsters in the tanks pounded and pounded on the door of the refrigerator until it came off and the beast tore loose from the tank.

* * *

A/N: I thought I'd share with you guys some interesting trivia I found about this particular scene in the movie. So, the access code that Tidus says is 04031965, right? The director of the film was born on April 3rd, 1965. Numerically, that would be (0)4/03/1965. Cool huh?


	5. The Soldier

A/N: Woohoo, I'm on a roll! This chapter is a little brief, but I decided to focus on Sora regaining some of his identity and discovering his connection to Umbrella. So without further adieu, here's chapter 4.

Disclaimer: KH belongs to Square Enix. RE to Capcom. Movies to Screen Gems, Davis Films, and Constantin Films.

* * *

The Soldier

He walked swiftly through the room, looking around every corner to see if he could spot the others, or more of those creatures. Cloud was following behind, but when he turned around and looked, the cop was gone again. Perfect. Why couldn't that guy just stay with him? He decided not to worry about Cloud and let the cop find his own way back, and he focused on trying to find the rest of the group by himself.

He found a way out of the dining hall and into an empty laboratory, but he remained alert since there could be more of the creatures around somewhere. It was dark in the room, but the emergency lights were on, so he was able to see enough to take in his surroundings once again. This looked like a place where they tested on animals…but all the animals were gone. There were cages lining a few of the walls that had the doors hanging open. The animals definitely broke out of them, because there were large holes in the wire mesh with scraps of bloody flesh dangling off the ends of the wires that were sticking out. He just hoped he wouldn't meet up with one of the animals that escaped.

He continued walking past the cages, looking for a way out of the room, so that he could get to the others without going through the dining hall where all those monsters were. He noticed a window at the other end of the lab and he looked inside, but it was just more of the same. It was dark, lab equipment was scattered everywhere—some of it broken, and there was blood spattered on the walls. He noted that there was a door that led to the inside of the other room, but he didn't see that there was anywhere else to go besides the way he came in. Other doors in the room were probably just supply cabinets, so he wouldn't find anything by opening them.

All of a sudden, he heard a loud noise. He turned around abruptly and then froze so that he could see what it was. It sounded like a door had opened, but he wasn't sure. He held completely still, trying to anticipate whatever it may be. Then he heard another sound…a tapping. _Tap tap tap tap tap_. His heart pounded as it grew louder and came closer. _Tap tap tap tap tap_…

And then the cause of the sound came into view. It stopped in the doorway and looked at him. It was a dog…one of the dogs that had escaped from the cages. It was covered in blood…its flesh was completely torn to shreds and mutilated, and he could see parts of its skeleton showing through gaping holes in what was left of its hide. It moved a bit closer, snarling at him and revealing a set of dreadfully sharp teeth. He could even smell its rotten odor from across the room. His eyes went wide with fear. It was a beast that was more terrifying than anything he'd ever seen…even more frightening than those walking dead people.

It started barking at him and flinched as if it was about to lunge, so he did as his instincts told him and ran as fast as he could. The dog chased after him and he opened the door to the other room, quickly slamming it shut before the dog could get through. He watched through the window in the door, frightened as the dog jumped up and scratched at the door, barking and snarling. He turned away from the door… and an undead man attacked him. He cried out furiously as he repeatedly punched his attacker in the chest to push it away from him. The creature was driven away momentarily, but it lunged for him again. He jumped…spinning in mid-air and delivering a powerful kick to the side of the dead man's head, sending it crashing into a shelf of chemicals. He landed perfectly balanced on both his feet and breathed heavily, trying to allow his nerves to subside. He couldn't help feeling shocked with himself and what he just did. Rude's words came back to him.

"_You are security operatives…placed there to protect that entrance."_

He remembered seeing the guns in the drawer…and putting on the combat gloves and the heavy boots…and seeing him and Seifer in uniforms in the photograph…and it all made sense now. This still didn't bring him any closer to remembering his name or anything else, but at least now he realized what he could do. This ability to fight must've been the result of extensive training he went through.

He unclenched his fists and looked down at his trembling hands, letting out a few more ragged breaths to try and relax. He looked at the creature that was crumpled on the floor motionless…he must have broken its neck when he kicked it. It should be dead for good now. He noticed the man had a gun in a side pocket in his suit. That could come in handy…and he was pretty sure he could remember how to use it. He approached the creature slowly…because he wasn't positive that it was really dead yet. With these things, it was hard to tell if they would get up and start moving again or not. He crouched down and carefully reached for the gun, looking at the man again to make sure he wasn't moving. He had just put his hand on the handle when the dog crashed through the window.

He grabbed the gun quickly and ran, knocking over something in hopes of slowing down the dog, and he went through another door, slamming it closed and leaving the dog outside scratching at it again. When he turned away however, something worse was waiting for him. He scrambled back up against the door. "Oh Jesus…!"

There wasn't just one other mutated dog, but one…two…three, four…six…seven! Seven more of them! And they all growled ferociously, staring at him with eyes that were wide and clouded over with a thirst for blood and an appetite for flesh. He pointed the gun, and all at once they came at him, lunging and bounding into the air. He pulled the trigger, shooting them point blank in the head in rapid succession, one after the other. He fired again…and again…and again…until all of them fell to the floor and stopped getting up again and his gun ran out of bullets. He let out a deep breath and lowered his gun.

But then he heard another bark. That same dog was back again, and it had gotten in through a broken window. He dropped his gun and ran, but there were no other doors to go through, so it looked like he had to deal with one more. The dog jumped from the window and lunged for him. He pushed off from a metal box on the floor, kicking off the corner of the wall and flew head on towards the dog, letting out a war cry as he kicked the dog right in the throat. He heard the splintering of the dog's neck bone as it crashed through another window.

He made another graceful landing and breathed heavily to calm himself down. He still found it hard to believe that he could do these things when a few hours ago he woke up and couldn't remember anything at all. It must've been a sign that the nerve gas was wearing off. Once he'd caught his breath again, he left the room to return to searching for the others.

…

Meanwhile, Leon, Tidus and Seifer had taken refuge back in the control room of the Queen's chamber. Tidus paced around nervously. "Where are the bodies? Where did they go?" he said. The bodies of their teammates that had been in the corridor to the Queen's chamber were gone.

"Fuck!" Seifer yelped.

Leon had finally gotten the door closed after struggling with the creatures pushing against it and backed away. The creatures continued to pound on the door. "Whatever those things are, there's too many of them out there." Leon said.

"Whatever they are? It's pretty obvious what they are!" Tidus retorted. "Lab coats, badges, those people used to work here!"

"All the people working here are dead." Leon said.

"Well…that isn't stopping them from walking around." Seifer murmured.

"Well, where did they come from?" Tidus exclaimed. "Why didn't we see them on the way in?!"

Leon glared at the technician. "When you cut the power, you unlocked the doors. _You_ let them out." The marksman snapped.

"Well, excuse me for following orders and doing my goddamn job! You knew what we came here to do, Leon!" Tidus bit back.

It wasn't hard to tell that they were all upset. Tidus and Leon had lost another teammate and Seifer felt he was just in the wrong place at a very wrong time, and it didn't help that he still couldn't remember everything either. They all paced around uncomfortably, and Leon slammed his gun on the floor.

"We're never gonna make it to the surface." Tidus muttered in despair.

…

He'd found his way to an office that was near the room that they had first entered. The "window" light was flickering on and off, but the emergency lights in the office were on. Not surprisingly, the office was in shambles. Papers were scattered everywhere, desks and filing cabinets were overturned, computers were broken, and some of the lighting fixtures had fallen and were hanging by their wires from the ceiling.

He rounded the corner, and lo and behold, he found Cloud…except he was being attacked by an undead woman. He grabbed a blunt object off of one of the desks and hurried over, striking the woman in the back of the head with it. The woman fell limp and rolled off of Cloud onto the floor. Cloud got up off the desk slowly.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

Cloud nodded, his eyes were fixed on the dead woman on the floor. Out of curiosity, he looked down at her too, and realized that he recognized her. It was the woman he'd seen in that flashback he had…the one from the graveyard.

"_I can help you get the virus. I have access to security codes, surveillance plans…the works."_

"_But?"_

"_But there's going to be a price."_

"_Name it."_

Cloud's face contorted into an expression of anguish. He even saw a tear stream down his face. The cop fell to his knees and cradled the dead woman's body.

"Who was she?" he asked.

"She was my sister, Yuna." Cloud answered.

After a moment of grieving, the blonde laid Yuna's body back down on the floor.

"I'm sorry." He told Cloud for some sympathy.

Cloud wiped away his tear and looked at him. "Corporations like Umbrella think they're above the law. But they're not." The cop told him.

He furrowed his brow and listened intently. He remembered that Cloud appeared to know a lot about Umbrella, and perhaps he could shed a bit more light on what happened for him. He bent down so that he was eye level with Cloud and could listen carefully.

"There are hundreds of thousands of us who think the same, all over the world." Cloud continued. "Some of us provide information…others give their support. Some of us take more direct action."

"Like you?" he asked.

"If your friends had been a little more thorough, they would have seen right through my false ID." Cloud answered. "Then all the red flags would've gone off. Quantico, NSA, ViCAP, all the rest."

He wasn't sure what Cloud meant by those names, but he had a feeling that they were support groups for Umbrella, or protection agencies.

"There's no way I could've infiltrated the Hive on my own." Cloud said.

"So you sent your sister."

Cloud paused for a moment and took a deep breath. Losing a loved one is hard for anyone. "We needed something concrete," He continued, "anything to expose Umbrella to the press. Proof of the research that was going on down here."

"What kind of research?" He asked.

"The illegal kind." Cloud answered. "Genetic. Viral. Yuna was going to smuggle out a sample of the virus they were developing."

"So…how was she going to make it out of here?"

"She had a contact within the Hive. Someone I'd never met." Cloud answered. "They had access to security codes, surveillance, everything she needed."

He went speechless momentarily. This was the meaning of that flashback. He was the contact. But if he was the contact, then how did all of this happen? Was it possible that he caused this?"

"So why didn't she make it?" He asked.

"I don't know. Maybe she trusted the wrong person." Cloud said.

He felt a sickening knot forming in his stomach.

"Maybe they set her up…and kept the virus for themselves." The blonde continued. "Do you have any idea how much the T-virus would be worth on the open market?"

"What, worth all this?"

"Yeah…to someone"

He sighed, feeling very ill all of a sudden. He decided he'd heard enough and stood up. "Come on…let's go find the others."

* * *

A/N: Hmm...I wonder if I did any justice to that awesome action scene with the dogs. It feels like it's a little watered down, but I suppose it's the best I can do to describe such a cool scene with mere words. Eh...you readers will just have to tell me what you thought about it when you review. ;)


	6. Questions, Answers, and Survival

A/N: Man, this one took longer than I'd planned. A lot of unexpected personal things came up during the process of writing this chapter, but I finally got it done. So here's chapter 5.

* * *

Questions, Answers, and Survival

He and Cloud found a way down to the Queen's chamber, but not without attracting a horde of undead creatures. They ran through the hallway and opened the door frantically. He was the first one in and saw Leon aim his gun at the door. "Don't shoot!" he called. He and Cloud slipped inside quickly. "Don't shoot! They're right behind us!"

"Close that door!" Seifer yelled. He ran over to the door and tried to push it shut as the creatures pressed against it, trying to get through. He and Cloud helped Seifer push. One of the creatures grabbed on to Seifer's arm. "Ahh! Get off!" the man yelled. More arms reached out to grab Seifer. Cloud helped pry the creature off of Seifer and they slammed the door shut, locking it tight.

"Son of a bitch!" Seifer yelped. The creatures pounded on the door. Seifer breathed heavily and rubbed his arm. He was bruised, but the creature didn't scratch him.

"You okay?" Leon asked. "Yeah." Seifer replied.

He walked into the room. "Right behind us…what about this door?" He asked, walking over to the door on the opposite side of the room.

"They're waiting out there too!" Tidus called.

He turned around, and he looked into the corridor that led to the Queen's chamber. "And that way?"

"It's a dead end. There's no way out of the Queen's chamber." Tidus answered.

"So we wait." said Seifer. "If someone doesn't hear from you, they'll send backup or something. Right?"

Tidus bit his lip, and Leon just looked at Seifer and said nothing.

"What? What's wrong?" Seifer asked.

"We don't have much time." said Tidus.

"You know those blast doors we passed on the way in from the mansion?" Leon said. "They seal shut in just under an hour. If we're not out of here by then, we're not getting out."

They all bit and licked their lips nervously. "What are you talking about?" Seifer asked. "They can't just…bury us alive down here."

Tidus sat down and heaved a sigh. Leon started re-bandaging the wound on his hand. "Containing the incident is the only fail-safe plan they had against possible contamination." Leon explained.

He leaned up against the computer desk, staring down the corridor. There had to be a way for them to escape.

"And you're only telling us this now…when we're trapped half a fucking mile underground?" Seifer spat.

"We have to find a way out of this room…" He murmured. They looked at him, and he continued to stare down the corridor. Then an idea came to him…

He got up off of the desk and went over to the black duffel bag on the other side of the desk.

"What are you doing?" Leon asked.

He picked up the duffel bag and headed down the corridor. Tidus scrambled up to his feet and followed him. "Where are you taking those?" the technician asked.

"I'm turning her back on." He replied.

"That is not a good idea!" Tidus exclaimed.

"She'll know a way out of here."

Soon they all got up and followed him. He opened the door to the chamber and went inside, kneeling in front of the tower and opening up the duffel bag.

"That homicidal bitch killed my team." said Leon.

He got the motherboard out and inserted it back into the tower. "Well, that homicidal bitch might be our only way out of here." He retorted.

"Considering the way she's being treated, I'm sure she's gonna be real happy to help us out." Seifer said mockingly.

"Hey Tidus…that circuit breaker you were talking about, can you bypass it?" He asked.

"Yeah."

"Then do it."

Tidus obeyed and retrieved the switch to the EMP device, and using his handheld computer, he ran the bypass code. "Alright, the circuit breaker is disabled. This time if I hit the switch, she won't be able to shut down." Tidus said. "She's gonna fry."

He finished powering up the mainframe and stood back. The camera moved and locked onto them. There was a crack and the hologram of Namine came into view, but she flickered brightly momentarily and then faded away.

"Tidus?"

"The initial charge must've damaged her boards."

They heard Namine's voice over a speaker. "Ah, there you are. Things, I gather, have gone out of control."

Leon dashed at Tidus. "Gimme that fucking switch right now! I'm gonna fry her ass!" He yelled. Cloud and Seifer grabbed onto him and pulled him away.

"I did warn you, didn't I?" The Red Queen said.

After Leon had calmed down, he asked her a question. "Tell us what the hell is going on down here."

"Research and Development." She answered.

"What about the T-virus?" Cloud asked.

"The T-virus was a major medical breakthrough. Although, it clearly possessed highly profitable military applications."

"Well how does it explain those things out there?" Tidus asked.

"Those 'things' are BOWs: bio-organic weapons produced by infection of the virus. Even in death, the human body still remains active. Hair and fingernails continue to grow, new cells are produced, and the brain itself holds a small electrical charge that takes months to dissipate." She explained. "The T-virus provides a massive jolt both to cellular growth and to those trace electrical impulses. Put quite simply, it reanimates the body."

"It brings the dead back to life?" Leon asked with a hint of disbelief in his voice.

"Not fully." The Queen answered. "The subjects have the simplest of motor functions. Perhaps a little memory, virtually no intelligence, and they are driven by the basest of impulses…the most basic of needs."

"Which is?" Tidus asked.

"The need to feed. They require nutrients from living organic tissue." She answered.

"…they're zombies?" Seifer whispered.

"How do you kill them?" Leon asked.

"Severing the top of the spinal column or massive trauma to the brain are the most effective methods."

"Shoot them in the head or break their neck then." Leon repeated.

"Why did you kill everyone down here?" Cloud asked.

"The T-virus escaped into the air conditioning system and an uncontrolled pattern of infection began." She explained. "The virus is protean, changing from liquid, to airborne, to blood transmission depending on its environment. It's almost impossible to kill. I couldn't allow it to escape from the Hive. So…I took steps."

"Steps, huh?" Cloud scoffed.

"You must understand." She said. "Once you become infected, I can't allow you to leave."

"Whoa, we're…we're not infected!" Seifer told her.

"Just one bite…one scratch from these creatures is sufficient. And then…you become one of them." She said.

They looked at Leon, who looked down at his wounded hand. He had been bitten almost an hour ago, which meant he was probably infected by now. Leon chewed on his lip nervously.

"A check of my systems indicates my main drive circuit breaker has been disabled." The Queen said. "May I ask why?"

"Insurance." He answered. "We need a way out of here. If you refuse to help at any time, we'll flip the switch and crash your system. Understand?"

…

The Queen did as she was told and directed them to an escape route. He and Leon found the hatch in the floor that she had indicated and lifted it open. They stared down into the blackness and a putrid smell wafted up to them. Leon wrinkled his nose and looked at him. "After you." Leon joked with a "polite" wave. He nodded to himself. They were just going to have to ignore the smell. This was their only way out now. They had almost become familiar with the odor anyways…it was all over the place. The smell of rotting corpses.

He lowered himself through the door and climbed down the ladder. Leon and the others followed behind. They were led down into a series of dimly-lit concrete tunnels with piping above them and water dripping everywhere from the ceiling, and some of the openings in the walls of the tunnels were covered with a wire mesh. It was quite a change in environment from the labs inside the Hive, but at least it was a way out. Leon and Tidus were armed, so they went in front while he, Seifer and Cloud followed close behind.

"What the hell is this place?" Seifer asked.

"The utility tunnels. They run underneath the Hive for water, gas, and power lines." Tidus answered.

They traveled for what seemed like a long time through the dank and cold tunnels, but they had probably only been moving for about ten minutes or so. Seifer began to get impatient. "We've been in this part before."

"Keep moving!" Leon called back.

"We're going around in circles." Seifer grumbled.

"No, this is the route the computer gave us and we're following it!" Tidus said.

Seifer shoved past the technician. "Why are you listening to her?"

Leon grabbed Seifer roughly about the shoulders and slammed him up against the mesh. "Enough already!" the marksman barked. "We have no choice but to keep moving, 'cause those fucking flesh-eaters are right behind us. You got that?"

Seifer didn't have a chance to even nod. A group of arms reached through the mesh and grabbed him. He hollered as their nails dug into his chest and he tried to push them off. Cloud and Tidus grabbed onto his arms and pulled him away from the groping hands. The zombies weren't just right behind them anymore. They had found them. They pushed into and pounded on the mesh and it was starting to come loose.

"That mesh isn't going to hold, we have to keep moving." He told the others. No sooner had he said this and started walking when he was met by another group of undead in front of him. He started punching and kicking and fighting them off immediately. The mesh broke loose, and the others tried to hold off the zombies trying to push through.

"Ahh, Jesus Christ! Hold it!"

"There's too many of them!"

"Fuck!"

He had to hold off the front group for the others, so his body became a lethal weapon, hitting as hard as he could and using his fists and feet to break bones and snap necks. He even used what he could around him. With one undead in particular, he jumped up and grabbed onto a pipe, putting his legs around the creature's neck and turning his body to break it. He couldn't hold them off for much longer, however. They were increasing in numbers, and he even spotted a horde that was coming at them from the other side. They were boxed in, and they had to find a way out fast. He looked around frantically, and fixated on the pipes. If they couldn't go around they had to go up, and the pipes were big enough to hold them.

"Get up on the pipes!" He called to the others. He went over to the group and repeated his message. "Up on the pipes everyone, there's too many of them! Let's go!"

He got the others moving, and they started climbing up on top of the piping. He continued to fight off the zombies to buy them some time while they climbed. Leon was also covering them with his handgun.

Cloud called after him. "Come on, get over here! You can't fight them all off!"

He heeded the blonde's words and climbed up after him. He and Cloud were the first two that got up, so they helped the rest of them. They pulled up Seifer, and then they helped Tidus as he climbed up. Tidus suddenly screamed, and he looked down and saw one of the creatures latched onto his leg. Leon shot it in the head and released Tidus, but he was bitten in the arm and he dropped his gun. The marksmen started fighting them off with punches and he fumbled for his gun on the ground. When Leon retrieved the weapon and pointed again, he found himself aiming at a familiar, but disfigured face.

"Zell?"

It was in fact Zell, but he wasn't Zell anymore. The undead Zell lunged at Leon and bit him on the shoulder. Leon howled in pain, and kicked away his dead friend. When Zell lunged for him again, Leon shot him in the head, finally granting him a peaceful rest.

…

It didn't seem like they could afford to rest, but they needed to. They were all exhausted, and two of them were wounded. Leon and Tidus seemed to be growing pale from illness. They were infected. Leon's infection had most likely progressed the most. The marksmen had broken out in a cold, heavy sweat and he trembled. He went over and sat beside Leon, who was sitting rather close to the edge and had un-bandaged his hand, letting his wounds bleed freely and drip from the tips of his fingers.

"Leon?"

"…what?"

"We have to do something about your wounds."

"I'm fine."

He could see that Leon obviously wasn't fine. Anyone could see that he was getting very sick. His breath was ragged when he spoke, and his face was a pasty white. And if he didn't stop squeezing blood out of his wounds, he was going to pass out. He reached out so that he could try and find a first aid kit in Leon's supplies, but the marksman flinched and pushed his hand away.

"I said I'm fine!" Leon snapped.

He heaved a sigh and wished that Leon would let go of his pride and let him help him. He didn't want to lose anybody else, and from the looks of it, Leon wasn't going to last for another hour unless he got some medical attention.

Leon let his blood drip down to the horde of hungry undead that was writhing in a mass below them. The marksmen grinned with a twisted expression.

"You like that don't you? Huh?" Leon said to the creatures. "Huh? You like the way it tastes don't you?"

Whether this was Leon taunting the zombies, or just venting some anger at them he wasn't sure. Perhaps the infection was getting to his head too.

"You like the taste of that?" Leon said again.

Tidus watched the scene dejectedly. He sighed and said, "…she was right."

He turned and looked at Tidus with a furrowed brow. Tidus looked back at him and said, "we're all gonna die down here."

"No! We're getting out." He told the disheartened technician. "All of us."

Clearly, they needed someone to look up to now. And since Rude was gone, it looked like it had to be him. He was going to get everyone out as safely as possible, even if it was the last thing he did.

"Come on everyone. We need to get moving."

Reluctantly, they listened to him and started moving. Cloud went first, then Seifer, then Leon, then he followed them and Tidus followed behind him. There wasn't enough room to stand, so they crawled on their hands and knees along the pipes, while the zombies pounded and slapped on the side of the pipes in hopes of getting one of them down for a good meal. They stayed as close to the wall as they could to avoid getting scratched by the creatures. Cloud came to a section where it was wide enough to stand, and the pipes were suspended from the ceiling by wires and a metal support beam on either side. Cloud got to the other side of the pipe and to an opening that was covered by wire mesh. The blonde kicked the mesh in and crawled through the opening, and Seifer and Leon followed him.

He looked behind him to make sure Tidus was still there and asked if he was okay. Tidus nodded to him, and they proceeded to cross the pipe to join the others. However, one of the metal supports was coming loose. He was about halfway across when he heard the support beam screeching as it was wrenched out of the wall. Tidus took another step and the bolt broke loose, sending the both of them falling to the floor while the other end of the pipe was still held up. He was further up on the pipe and still out of the reach of the creatures, but Tidus was being swarmed by them, and from the sound of it, He was getting bitten too.

"Tidus!" He reached behind and grabbed onto Tidus's hand and tried to pull him back up. The pipe strained under their weight and a section of it gave way, and the electrical wires snapped, emitting a blast of electricity. He was thrown towards the other side and Cloud grabbed onto his hands, but Tidus dropped to the floor, scrambling to his feet and fighting off the creatures the best he could.

He dangled treacherously close to the zombies below, and he kicked them away as Cloud and Seifer pulled him up and into the tunnel. He turned and looked back out to see Tidus backed into a corner and up against a fallen pipe, screaming and struggling to keep one of the undead from biting him. Leon had his gun aimed, but was evidently hesitating.

"Help him!" He exclaimed.

"I can't!" Leon cried.

"What are you waiting for?!"

"I can't focus!"

He glanced at Leon and then back at Tidus fearfully. Tidus howled, straining with his last ounce of might to keep the creature off of him.

"I can't see!" Leon yelled.

He snatched the gun from Leon and shot the creature in the back of the head. It rolled off of Tidus and onto the floor. Tidus began shuffling his way up the fallen section of pipe. Leon fell to his knees and trembled violently, clutching at the mesh.

They shouted words of encouragement to Tidus as he climbed up the pipe.

"Come on Tidus, get up there!"

"You can do it!"

"Keep going!"

"Come on!"

Tidus reached the top of the pipe and rested on the small section that was bent flat, breathing heavily.

They sighed with relief momentarily. "Tidus, hold on! Just stay there we're going to come get you!" He called to the technician. "We need to cut one of the wires and throw it to him so he can get across." He told the others.

"Got anything to cut wires with?" Seifer asked.

He bit his lip. That wouldn't work. But they needed to come up with something to retrieve Tidus, and fast.

Tidus pulled out his revolver and opened the barrel, taking out the bullets. All of them were empty cases but one. "That's lucky…" he muttered. He took the one good bullet and loaded it back into the gun, dropping the empty cases onto the floor below. One of the zombies was inching its way up the pipe towards him. Tidus's lip quivered. "I want you to go." He said to the others.

His eyes widened in alarm…Tidus was giving up? He couldn't, not now! "No!" He called. "We're not leaving you Tidus!"

"Yes you are!" Tidus yelled back.

"No!"

"You can't kill all of them!" Tidus snapped. "…and I'm not going anywhere."

"No, don't do this Tidus…there's still hope." He said.

"Not for me, there isn't. Just go now…please."

Seifer and Cloud listened to him and unwillingly began to leave. The two of them helped Leon up and carried him down the tunnel. He, nonetheless, remained behind, giving Tidus a pleading and sorrowful look.

"Just do it! Go now!" Tidus shouted.

He bit his lip and shook his head.

"GOOOOOO!!" Tidus yelled.

He sighed and got to his feet, giving Tidus one last glance and then turning and heading down the tunnel with his head bowed.

Tidus looked at the zombie that was crawling towards him, and it was getting very close. The technician blew out a few sharp breaths of air and then put the barrel of his gun in his mouth, squeezing his eyelids shut tight and pulling back the hammer.

He turned around when he heard a gunshot echo through the tunnels…but he didn't stay put for long and kept moving, despite the aching pain of anguish in his chest and stomach. He hurried to catch up with the other three.

The zombie tumbled off the pipe with a bullet hole in its head, and Tidus threw his gun down at the swarm of undead below. "You're gonna have to work for your meal!" He shouted at them. Tidus looked back over his shoulder and spotted an opening to another passageway, and he moved over to it and crawled through, leaving behind the mass of ravenous zombies.

* * *

A/N: By the way, I've posted a topic in the forums for you readers. It's in the Kingdom Hearts section, and it's called Kingdom Hearts cross-overs. I'm curious to know what you guys would want to cross Kindom Hearts with, so drop by the forums and let me know! And maybe I'll even give you tips on getting started with your awesome crossover idea. :)

-GrapeFuzz


	7. Antivirus and the Renegade

A/N: Hey, it's GrapeFuzz. I want to apologize for taking so long to update. Again, I had some personal things that came up while writing this chapter as well as a bit of laziness. I'm going back to school in less than a week, so updates will be slower from now on, I'm sorry to say. But rest assured, I will not abandon this project. I've worked too hard and come too far to just give up, and I hope you all have enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoy writing it. I'm almost finished with the first part of the story, and I can't wait to move on and incorporate all my original ideas. So be patient, bear with me, and I promise not to disappoint. Enjoy the long overdue chapter six.

* * *

Anti-virus and the Renegade

He stuck his fingers through the grate and lifted it slightly, searching the area above for anymore creatures. There didn't appear to be any at the moment, so he climbed up through. They were back inside the Hive now, in a dark hallway that contained another series of labs. He headed down the hallway with Seifer following close behind him. Cloud was busy helping Leon up through the opening in the floor.

"Here…up over my shoulder…there we go."

Leon was getting more and more ill and weak as the minutes passed by. Once he was on his feet, he doubled over and vomited. Cloud paused momentarily to let him finish, and then he pulled Leon along to join the other two. Seifer pitched in and took Leon's other arm over his shoulder.

He had Leon's gun ready as he rounded a corner, then nodded to the others once he saw that it was safe. He kept the gun aimed and proceeded cautiously, checking around every corner he passed by for any potential threats. He passed by the window of one of the laboratories and halted…he heard voices.

The other three passed him by without hearing anything.

"When I get out of here…" Leon said, "…I think I'm gonna get laid."

Cloud chuckled. "Yeah, well…you might want to clean up a little bit first."

"Nah, man…" Leon replied. "The chicks will dig the bite marks…"

They stopped and turned around when they realized that he wasn't following them. He was standing in the middle of the hallway, following the shadows he saw and the voices he heard, but the others saw nothing and heard nothing.

"You okay?" Cloud called. He didn't answer. He continued to watch the images of the former employees passing by…hearing the whispers of their voices. He could almost see the lab in its original state. He went over to the window and pressed against it, peering inside and watching the scientists at their work.

Cloud let go of Leon and went to see what was going on with him.

He watched the researchers fill glass vials in the shape of a double helix with a blue liquid. Then they loaded the vial of the substance into a jet injector gun and injected the substance into a lab animal.

"Blue for the virus…" he whispered to himself.

They filled another vial with a green liquid, loaded it into the injector gun, and then injected it into the test subject.

"Green for the anti-virus…"

"What?" Cloud asked him.

Once the scientists were finished with the testing, they loaded the vials of the substance into a containment unit where it would be kept isolated to prevent any contamination.

He turned around. "Blue for the virus, green for the anti-virus." He repeated. He came back to reality and saw Cloud standing in front of him. "There's a cure." He said.

"What are you talking about?" Cloud said.

"There's a cure…the process can be reversed." He answered. "Leon, there's a cure!" He called. "You're gonna be okay!" He went over to the door and entered the lab. Cloud followed after him.

"I was beginning to worry." Leon said sarcastically.

He came inside the lab and stood on a platform, examining the room. The floor below was flooded with a good two or three feet of water. He searched for the containment unit where the virus was kept. Cloud came in after him.

"This is where they kept the T-virus." He told Cloud.

"How do you know?" Cloud asked.

He turned and looked at Cloud. "because I was going to steal it." He answered. "I was your sister's contact."

There was a moment of uncomfortable silence that followed. Cloud paled in the face a bit. "You betrayed her."

"I don't know."

"You caused all of this."

"I can't remember."

He was about to go and search the room, but Cloud grabbed a hold of the sleeve of his jacket and pulled him back to face him. "Tell me the truth."

"I don't remember the truth!" He snapped, wrenching his arm away.

He descended the steps from the platform and waded through the knee-deep water. He spotted the containment unit in a far corner of the room and set his gun down on a table, and then shuffled over to the containment unit, tugging on the door harshly and grunting with the strain. Seifer and Leon came into the room, and Seifer let Leon sit down to rest on the platform.

He managed to push through the door and went inside the containment unit to the window. The window was wide open, and when he looked inside, there was nothing but an empty tray. The virus was gone. "I don't understand!" he barked, slapping the ledge of the window. He turned around dejectedly and left the containment unit, heading back to the others to deliver the bad news. "It's gone." He said with a sigh. "It's not there."

Leon breathed heavily, his face screwed up into an expression of pain. "I can't…" he moaned. "I just can't…it's over."

"No…Leon!" He went over to comfort the sick marksman.

Seifer descended the steps slowly and looked around in awe. This place was oddly familiar. He went over to the containment unit and looked inside. Then he froze…it was all coming back.

"_I can help you get the virus. I have access to security codes, surveillance plans…the works."_

"_But?"_

"_But there's gonna be a price."_

"_Name it."_

"_You have to guarantee me that you will bring this corporation down."_

"_Consider it done."_

Seifer remembered hearing this conversation between his partner and a woman with a shotgun microphone mounted on a tranquilizer gun. As his partner headed back to the mansion towards him, he aimed and fired a tranquilizing dart directly into his partner's shoulder. His partner fell to the ground unconscious, and he went to retrieve him, carrying him back inside the mansion and setting him down to sleep off the tranquilizer on his bed. He removed the dart and threw it away, and then he left a note for his partner when he woke up. "Today, dreams become reality."

Then Seifer remembered entering the Hive from the train and heading down to this very same lab, and wearing protective gear, he operated the mechanical arms inside the containment unit, loading the vials containing both the virus and the anti-virus into a case. He then put the case into a duffel bag and before he left the room, he took out one of the vials containing the virus and tossed it back over his shoulder. The vial shattered and the virus was released into the air conditioning system. Afterwards, he swiftly exited the Hive, shoving past all the employees and heading back to the train.

"Seifer?"

Seifer was just standing there, his eyes fixated on the containment unit. He called out his name again. "Seifer?"

Seifer turned and looked at him with a menacing glare. What was going on with him? His eyes…there was something about them that sent a horrible feeling crawling down his spine. He glanced towards where he left the gun and then back at Seifer again. Seifer continued to stare at him menacingly until a twisted smile played across his partner's features.

He leapt for the gun, but Seifer was closer and grabbed it first. He slammed into the table and fell into the water, scrambling to get up while spluttering and coughing. He backed away and stood by Cloud and Leon while Seifer had the gun aimed at him.

"Tsk tsk…" Seifer clicked his tongue. He pointed the gun at Cloud and Leon as well to make sure they didn't move, and then he looked back at his partner and furrowed his brow. "We can still make it out of here." Seifer told him. "Come with me…we can have everything we've ever wanted. There's money out there waiting…you wouldn't believe how much."

He scoffed and glared back at Seifer. "Is that how you thought dreams were going to become reality? We lived in a fucking mansion, Seifer. What more could you possibly want? What was wrong with what we had before, and how is all this worth anything else?"

"Shut up! Sure, we may have had it good. But for what? We were still their lap-dogs. It was all fake. Have you ever considered what it would be like to be living like that for real? Freedom…that's what I wanted."

"…"

Cloud jumped over the railing into the water to try and get the gun away from Seifer, but Seifer aimed the gun at him before he could do anything.

"Please…" said Seifer, "I wouldn't want to shoot you…might need the bullets."

Cloud glared at him.

"Back off!" Seifer snapped. Unwillingly, Cloud obeyed and took a few steps back.

"Do you realize what you've done? I won't take any part in this." He told Seifer.

"Fine." Seifer replied. "But you can't just wash your hands of this. You knew what they were doing down here as well as I did. We're partners…remember?"

"I was trying to stop them." He said.

Seifer laughed. "Jesus…you really believe that…people like him," he said, glowering at Cloud, "will ever change anything? No…nothing ever changes."

"Where…where is…the anti-virus?" Leon groaned.

"It's on the train. Where you found me." Seifer answered. I couldn't have been standing more than three feet from it."

Behind Seifer, they saw an undead woman rising out of the water.

"I so nearly made it out." Seifer continued. "Didn't realize that bitch of a computer had defense systems outside of the Hive."

Seifer took a step closer to him. The dead woman got up and started moving towards Seifer. "In or out?" Seifer asked him. His eyes were looking past Seifer and at the zombie. "In…or out?" Seifer asked him again.

"Don't ever call me your partner again." He said. The woman was close. "Because it's over."

The woman bit Seifer in the neck and he screamed. Cloud lunged for the gun again. Seifer put the gun against the woman's thigh and shot her. She stumbled backwards and then Seifer turned around and shot her in the head a few times. Cloud attacked Seifer again and tried to tackle him down, but was kicked and beaten off. Seifer shuffled out of the way and pointed the gun at the both of them again once Cloud got back on his feet. "Back!" Seifer shouted, keeping the gun aimed at them. "…the fuck off." He added.

Seifer began backing up towards the exit, and he scowled at his former partner angrily as he stepped towards him while Seifer backed up. Seifer made his way up the stairs, gun still aimed, and he followed, keeping his eyes on the renegade. He wouldn't be getting away that easily…not if he could help it.

All of a sudden, Seifer made a break for it and ran out the door, throwing it closed behind him. He caught the door before it could slam shut and ran after Seifer. Cloud was about to follow them, but decided it would be better to stay with Leon in case there were anymore undead in the room.

He caught up to Seifer trying to open the door on the other side of the hallway and ran at full speed, body slamming Seifer into the door. Then he grabbed Seifer by his arm and the scruff of his shirt and swung him around, throwing him into the wall. Seifer fell to his knees on the floor, dropping the gun. He walked over to Seifer, grabbed him by the front of his shirt, pulling him back on his feet and punching him in the face. Seifer stumbled backwards from the force of the blow but remained on his feet. He took the opportunity to land another punch, but his fist was caught by an unexpected move from Seifer. The blonde gripped his fist with bruising force in one hand and punched him directly below the ribs with the other. All the air was forced out of him and he doubled over, struggling to breathe. As he fell to his knees gasping for air, Seifer twisted his hand around as if he were going to break his wrist, but instead he was kicked in the ribs. He fell over, still wheezing in pain as he tried desperately to breathe. Seifer kicked him in the ribs again. At this rate, he thought something would break. The pain was tremendous.

Seifer laughed. "You just…don't know when to quit…do you?" he said, giving him another kick. He bit down hard on his lower lip to keep from screaming, but he couldn't prevent a pained groan from escaping. He clutched his throbbing side and coughed, discovering traces of blood coming up from his lungs. Seifer let go of him to look at his watch.

"I really don't have time for this…" said Seifer, breathing heavily from the exertion of combat. Seifer went back over by the door and picked up the gun, and then he approached him. The blonde pulled him to his feet and put him in a headlock, holding the gun to his head.

"So…be a good boy." Seifer told him as he led him back to the lab. He shoved him through the door and into the railing of the platform. Cloud got up to get through the door, but Seifer slammed it shut. Cloud tugged at the handle of the door.

"Your boyfriend is a real asshole." Leon said. He shot Leon an exasperated look, but he was thankful for the marksman's sense of humor. He pulled himself to his feet, ripping off his soaked jacket and throwing it into the water.

"He shot the locking mechanism out." Cloud said through his clenched teeth. "I can't believe that son of a bitch is going to get away with this."

"I don't think so." said the voice of a certain little girl. They turned to see the red image of Namine's face on a screen. "I've been a bad, bad girl." She said with a small giggle.

…

In a matter of minutes, Seifer made it back to the top level of the Hive. He descended down the concrete steps of the station and walked swiftly to the train, and he found the duffel bag on the back of the train where he'd left it. He set the bag down on the floor and opened it up, taking out the metal case. Sure enough, inside were the vials of both the virus and the anti-virus. Seifer breathed a sigh of relief, and took out an injection gun and loaded a vial of the anti-virus so he could treat the infection from the bite on his neck. He took off his belt and bound it around his upper bicep, and then he gave his fist a few pumps and tapped on the vein that surfaced. He picked up the gun and was about to put the needle in, but suddenly he heard something. He turned and frantically looked around. He heard bending metal and crumbling concrete. As the sound grew louder he realized it was coming from above him and looked up, and he saw something hideous. It was a huge, skinless monster, and it crawled through an opening in the ceiling, gripping its immense claws into the concrete with ease as it clung to the ceiling. Then it hissed and turned its head towards him, and even though it had no eyes, it was looking right at him. It hissed again and opened its massive jaw full of horridly sharp fangs, and it flailed out its incredibly long tongue.

"Oh my god…" Seifer muttered. Then the monster let go of the ceiling and plunged down onto him.

…

The three of them gazed at the screen with eyes wide as they witnessed the hideous beast shredding and tearing Seifer apart until he was barely recognizable. When it'd had its fill of his flesh, it flailed its whip-like tongue and snarled, bounding off to find something else of interest. The screen changed back to the image of Namine.

"What…the fuck…was that?" Cloud said.

"One of the Hive's early experiments, produced by a secondary infection of the T-virus. The results were…unstable. The secondary infection caused severe mutation in the subject's structural composition." The Queen answered. "Now that it has fed on fresh tissue, it will mutate, becoming a stronger, faster hunter."

"Great." Leon said.

"Wait…if you knew it was loose, then why didn't you warn us?" Cloud asked.

"Because she was saving it…" He said, "for us. Isn't that right?" he asked the computer.

"I didn't think any of you would make it this far." The Queen answered. "Not without infection."

"Why didn't you tell us about the anti-virus?" Leon asked.

"This long after infection, there's no guarantee it would work." She answered.

"But there's a chance…right?" Leon said.

"I don't deal in chance." She said.

Leon got up and waded over to the other side of the room, where he found an axe on the wall for fire emergencies. The marksman took the axe down and gripped it in both hands, and he examined one of the windows. He was considering using the axe to break the window open so that they could escape, but when he noticed that there were bullets stuck in the glass, he realized that it was a high-density security glass and breaking through it would take more effort than his sickened body could put forth. "Fuck it." He grumbled, shuffling over and resting on an office chair.

Cloud waded over to another door that had a key pad. He tried putting in various codes to get it to open, but so far he was having no luck.

Leon took a look at his watch. There was about twenty minutes left before the security doors at the entrance would seal shut and they would be trapped. "No pressure guys." Leon called.

Cloud continued to experiment with various codes at the door. "You require the four-digit access code." Red Queen said. "I can give you the code, but first you must do something for me."

"What do you want?" He asked.

"One of your group members is infected. I require his life for the code." She said.

"The anti-virus is right there on the platform." He snapped. "It's right there!"

"I'm sorry, but it's a risk I cannot take." The Queen said.

Leon scoffed and tossed the axe to him. "She's right," he said, kneeling down in the water and bowing his head, "it's the only way. You're gonna have to kill me."

"Leon…no…" He muttered, the weight of the axe heavy in his hand. A nauseating pit formed in his stomach.

"Otherwise we all die down here." Leon said.

They heard a loud pound on the glass window and jolted backwards. The licker beast had found them and was bashing into the window.

"The glass is reinforced, but it won't hold up for very long." The Queen warned them.

Leon fell to his knees in the water and lowered his head again. "Do it!"

"No, Leon get up." He said.

"Just do it!" Leon said.

"Leon please, I can't." He said.

"Do it!" Leon shouted.

The beast continued to pummel the window. The glass was cracking, the axe was heavy, his heart pounded, his ears rang and his head ached and throbbed.

"There is no time to hesitate." The Queen said.

"Come on, there's no other choice!" Leon snapped.

"No, please!" He pleaded.

"Kill him." The Queen demanded. "Kill him now."

"Leon, don't listen to her." Cloud said.

"Shut up! Come on man, do it!" Leon snapped.

He clutched his forehead and gripped the axe until his knuckles were white. "I can't!" he shouted back.

"Kill him now." The computer barked. "Do it!"

"Please!" Leon begged. "Just do it."

He chewed on his trembling lip. The creature slammed into the glass.

"NOW!" Leon screamed.

"Kill him!" the Queen shouted.

He cried out as he raised the axe over his head…

* * *

A/N: Sorry about the cliffhanger, but I wanted to give you guys something to "look forward" to. If you've seen the movie already it's not much of a cliffhanger, but oh well...every good story needs some suspense, especially if it's a horror story. And for those of you that have seen the movie, what did you think of the fight scene I added? I think a fight would've been appropriate for that particular scene, so since they didn't have one, I put in my own. Yes, Sora got his ass handed to him, but the protagonist can't always win. Plus if he did win, then Seifer wouldn't have gotten fed to the licker, and of course you can't forget that part! :) Anyways, tell me what you thought of my fight scene when you review!


	8. Only the Beginning

Hey, it's GrapeFuzz! Yes, I'm still alive, and I've finally updated! Whew! I must apologize first for taking so long to update. When I said that updates would be slower, three whole months wasn't what I had intended, so I'm really sorry for taking so long. This is the last chapter in the first part of the story, which means next I'll be moving onto the second movie. Yeehaw! So please enjoy the very long awaited chapter 7.

* * *

Only the Beginning

He gripped the axe tightly and chewed on his trembling lip. The licker beast slammed into the glass.

"DO IT NOW!" Leon screamed.

"Kill him!" The computer shouted.

He cried out as he raised the axe over his head. Leon continued to scream. Cloud pulled his eyes away.

Then he swung the axe around behind him and smashed it into the computer's screen. There was a loud crack, a shower of sparks, and a puff of blue smoke, and splinters of the monitor's hardware flew everywhere. He dropped the head of the axe into the water and breathed heavily.

Seconds later, the lights shut off and it seemed that the power went out. They looked around, confused. How could the power have gone out when nothing had triggered the EMP device?

Everything was quiet. It seemed the licker had gone away. Hopefully it had lost interest in them. All of a sudden, the door cranked open. He picked up the axe and got in front of the other two, ready for whatever might come through.

What did come through the door however, wasn't at all what they were expecting. It was a very familiar face, holding the switch to the EMP device.

"…Tidus?"

"The bitch wouldn't open the door, so I had to fry her." Tidus said.

He let out a relieved chuckle. Knowing Tidus was alive and well was a great relief for all of them. Now all they needed to do was get back to the surface and retrieve the virus.

The licker smashed into the glass, causing them to jerk. He readied the axe again. "Go." He told the other three. Tidus held the door open while Cloud took Leon and hurried out. He followed close behind them, keeping the axe ready until he got through the door. The licker smashed through the window and into the room. It hissed and flailed its tongue, and then leaped towards the door. Tidus threw it shut before the beast could get through.

"Jesus Christ!" Tidus yelped, backing away as the licker pounded and clawed at the door. "What the fuck is that?!"

"It's a long story!" He yelled back to Tidus.

…

He was the only one with a weapon, so he traveled in front of the group. Tidus had a limp from an injured leg, so he followed behind them as quickly as he could, supporting himself on anything close by. Cloud had resorted to carrying Leon when the marksman had become too tired to walk.

They made it back to the station and headed towards the train. There they found Seifer's body lying in a pool of blood, and the case containing the virus next to it. "Start up the train." He told Tidus. "I'll get the virus."

Tidus, Cloud and Leon went inside. He approached Seifer's body cautiously to retrieve the virus. Seifer had been infected before he was killed, meaning he would most likely reanimate. He picked the injection gun up off the floor and put it back in the case, and then closed and locked the case. He also found Leon's gun beside the case, but when he reached for the items, Seifer's body spasmed and let out a wail. He took a few steps back, and the undead Seifer started crawling towards him. The zombie appeared to be having trouble with moving due to severe mutilations, so he stood and waited patiently, feeling a twinge of satisfaction from watching this pathetic creature that was once a bastard traitor named Seifer. He couldn't believe that this was once a man that he trusted, and that man had simply tossed him away all for his selfish and greedy desires. He was glad now that he couldn't fully remember who Seifer really was.

The zombie moaned, reaching out and clawing at his boot. He gripped the axe in both hands and said, "You just don't know when to quit…do you?" The creature let out another howl, and he silenced it when he buried the axe in its skull.

Tidus finished powering up the train. "Okay, we're in business…full power. We're leaving!"

He left the axe where it was and retrieved the gun and the virus, and then he boarded the train. Tidus closed the doors and the train took off down the tracks.

Tidus had the train going at near full-speed so that they could make it back to the mansion before the Hive was sealed off. Meanwhile, he got Leon situated and prepared the anti-virus so he could treat the infection. "I don't want to become one of those things…" Leon groaned. He inserted the needle into Leon's arm and pulled the trigger, injecting the anti-virus. "…walking around without a soul." Leon continued.

He put the injection gun in the case and looked back at Leon. "You won't." he said.

"When the time comes…" Leon said, "…you'll take care of it…right?"

"Hey." He said, putting his hand on Leon's shoulder. "No one else is gonna die."

Cloud had the other injection gun and was treating Tidus with the anti-virus. The train screeched as it sped along the tracks. Once finished, Cloud put the injection gun away and closed the case. Tidus went back to the front of the train to man the controls and Cloud leaned up against the side.

"Here." Leon said, handing over his wrist-watch. He took it and looked at it. There was less than ten minutes left before the doors closed. He looked back at Leon and was about to ask him why he was giving him this, but he noticed the marksman's head had rolled down onto his chest and his eyes were closed.

"Leon?" He whispered. There was no response. He paused for a moment before he said the marksman's name again. "Leon?"…nothing.

He swallowed hard, and said his name once more. "Leon. Wake up."…Leon didn't answer. Cloud noticed what was going on and stood motionless. He leaned in to get a look at Leon's face. The marksman's facial features were completely relaxed, as well as the rest of his body. Leon wasn't moving and it didn't look like he was breathing either.

His lip trembled and his eyes stung. Had it been too late? Was Leon really…?

His eyes wandered over to the gun that was set on top of a stack of cases. His chest felt like it was being crushed and he let out a few ragged breaths. He looked back at Leon, who still wasn't moving, and then he looked at the gun again.

He ignored the tiny voice that was screaming inside of him and he picked up the gun, aiming it at Leon. His vision was clouded by tears, and he squeezed his eyelids shut momentarily to will them away. He opened his eyes again and Leon still hadn't moved. He took in a deep breath and pulled back the hammer. Then he was practically gasping for air as he slowly started pulling the trigger…

A hand came up swiftly and grasped the gun, and he let out a strangled yelp from the initial shock. Leon looked up at him with a glare, keeping a solid grip on the gun and said, "…I'm not dead yet." He froze with his eyes bugged out and Leon lifted the gun from his hands. "I think I'll have that back." The marksman said.

Very much relieved, he let out a wheezy laugh, putting his forehead to Leon's. "I could kiss you, you son of a bitch." He whispered. "But I'd rather bust a cap in your ball-sack for scaring the shit out of me." He added with a nervous chuckle.

Leon rolled his eyes. "Yeah well, do that when we get back. I'm too fucking tired."

He leaned back and laughed, thankful that Leon was still alive. Cloud was also alleviated and he laughed quietly.

All of a sudden, there was a loud screeching sound as a huge set of claws tore through the side of the train where Cloud was standing. The licker beast had caught up to them again. Cloud stumbled over to the other side of the train and clutched his wounded arm, having received a row of gashes from the beast. Leon had fallen over and dropped his gun. He picked the gun up off the floor and aimed it towards the wall. The beast continued to slash through the side of the train in various places, and he aimed the gun wherever a new set of holes appeared, having no way of telling exactly where the beast was.

"What the hell is going on back there?!" Tidus shouted. The licker continued to tear large holes in the side, and he kept trying to track its movements. "Get us the fuck out of here!" Cloud barked to Tidus. The train was starting to shake and rattle. "Any faster and we're gonna come off the rails!" Tidus called back. Momentarily, it got quiet and the beast stopped clawing through the sides. Hopefully it had given up.

"Is everyone alright?" Tidus called. He lowered the gun and checked the other two. Other than the cuts on his upper arm, Cloud was unharmed. Leon was unconscious on the floor, but he also seemed uninjured. "We're okay!" He shouted back.

Then there was a loud bang as the claws punched through the door at the front. The beast tore the door open and stuck its head through. Tidus tried to get away, but he wasn't fast enough. The beast lunged and grasped Tidus in its jaws, and he screamed as it pulled him out of the train.

"TIDUS!" He yelled, trying to get to the front before the licker was gone, but he was too late. Cloud was closer to the front of the train, and he slammed the door shut and locked it just before the licker tried to get in a second time. There was clanging on the ceiling as the beast moved along the outside of the train. He kept the gun aimed and followed its movements closely…it was moving towards the back. He looked back at Cloud, who ran to the back of the train seconds before the beast got there and locked the back door. The beast pounded on the door hard and Cloud stumbled backwards onto the floor, shuffling away from the door. He aimed the gun at the door as the licker continued to pound on it, and when Cloud got to his feet, the door broke loose, flying into Cloud and knocking him down again. The licker beast bounded into the train and roared, flailing out its tongue. He pulled the trigger and fired the gun, and a bullet cut through the air and pierced through the licker's exposed brain, making it snarl even louder. The bullet only made the thing mad, so it appeared that it would take more than one shot to kill it. He fired a few more times, hitting it in the head or face, and each time the beast only growled and hissed loudly. Cloud wasn't hurt badly from the door hitting him, and he got to his feet again, getting behind the net of pipes that was hanging from the ceiling in the middle of the train. He shot the licker once more, but this time the beast whipped out its tongue, snaring his ankle and pulling his feet out from under him. The gun flew out of his hands as he hit the floor hard, and the beast started pulling him toward it. He stuck his fingers through a grate in the floor and clung onto it, trying to keep from being pulled in. When he looked up, Cloud had pulled the net of pipes back, and now he was pushing it forward, intending to use it as a battering ram. He ducked as the pipes passed over him and Cloud slammed them into the licker, throwing it against the back wall of the train and forcing it to let go of his ankle with its tongue. The net of pipes gave way, and the pipes came clattering and rolling on to the floor. When he sat up, the beast was up again as well. It lashed out its tongue and hit him in the side of the head, knocking him over again. He found himself on the floor alongside a pile of pipes, and he picked up one of them, sitting up and getting to his knees. As the beast was retracting its tongue, he slammed the pipe on the tongue and pinned it to the floor. The beast hissed and flailed its head. Then he picked up another pipe, one that was cross-sectioned and had a sharp end, and he stabbed it through the licker's tongue. The licker squealed and thrashed its head around, and he put both hands on the pipe and pressed down hard to keep it in place. The licker was positioned right over the bottom doors.

"Open the doors!" He shouted back to Cloud. Cloud had picked up the gun, and he turned around to hit the switch but was met with something else. Leon had stood up and was cracking his neck, but when he opened his eyes, Cloud could see from the way that they were vacant and pale that it wasn't Leon anymore…Leon was dead. Cloud swallowed hard and aimed the gun at the undead Leon, who let out a loud growl and attacked him. Cloud struggled to push Leon off of him, staggering around and shoving him into the wall, but the undead had latched onto him with a deathly grip and kept trying to bite him. Cloud managed to pry the undead Leon from him and shoved the creature into the control panel, then backed away and aimed the gun at it. The zombie hissed and started moving towards him slowly again.

He looked back to see what was going on, but there was no time to be concerned with Leon. The licker continued to howl and pull on its impaled tongue. "Open the doors!" He shouted again, "now!" Cloud waited until the undead came a bit closer so that it was in a precise position, and then he shot it between the eyes. It fell backwards and hit the switch to the doors, which the licker dropped through and was dragged along the tracks. He kept holding onto the pipe to keep the creature's tongue pinned down. The licker squealed and howled as it was dragged along; the tracks screeched loudly and gave off sparks. Within seconds, a cloud of smoke was rising off the tracks, and then the licker burst into flames. He let go of the pipe and backed away from the fire, and the beast continued to skid along the tracks as it burned, giving off a horrid stench. Cloud hit the switch again and closed the bottom doors, severing the licker's tongue and leaving it behind in a howling, flaming mass on the tracks.

The train slowed down as it came closer to its destination. Cloud sat down in a corner to rest. He pulled the pipe out of the grate in the floor and tossed it aside, then he turned around slowly and looked at Leon's body slumped against the wall. It _had_ been too late…he couldn't save any of them. It was probably sheer luck that Cloud was even still alive. He went over and sat on his knees in front of Leon's body, keeping his eyes fixed on his dead comrade. Leon…Tidus…Zell, Selphie, Wakka, Rude…even Seifer…he'd failed them. His insides curled into a sickening knot, and he pulled his eyes away from Leon's body and prayed silently for all of them.

The train slowly rolled into the warehouse and they arrived back at the mansion. He picked up the case containing the virus and tucked it under his arm. Cloud opened the door and they exited the train, walking swiftly back through the warehouse. The timer on the wall was counting down…10 second left. They began climbing up the concrete steps, and as they reached the top, the heavy security door slid closed behind them and sealed off the entrance to the Hive.

They came back through the mirrored doors and walked through the study. He felt his legs getting weak, and stumbled up against the threshold of the foyer. Cloud rushed to his side and helped him into the foyer, where he fell to his knees on the floor with the virus held in his lap. Cloud knelt down in front of him and tried to console him. "It's all over now…" he said.

"I've failed…" He replied, tears welling up in his deep blue eyes, "…all of them. I failed."

"Listen to me," Cloud told him, "there is nothing else you could've done. The corporation is guilty here, not you."

He took a deep breath, rubbed the tears from his eyes and ran a hand through his dark brown hair. Maybe he couldn't have done anything more, but it still was tearing him inside-out. How could he not break down after everything that's happened?

"Look…" Cloud said, putting his hand on the case, "we finally have the proof. That way Umbrella can't get…" the muscles in his injured arm spasmed. "—can't get away with this."

Cloud winced and pressed his hand to the cuts on his arm as the muscles twitched and pulsated. He furrowed his brow in concern. "What is it?" he asked. Cloud didn't answer, but he yelped in pain and rolled onto the floor, clutching his arm. The flesh around the cuts was turning a sickly purplish color as the muscles continued to contract and spasm. Cloud clenched his teeth and squirmed from the pain.

"Shit!" He cursed. "You're infected. But you're going to be okay." He set the case on the floor and opened it, taking out an injection gun and a vial of the anti-virus. "I am _not_ losing you too."

All of a sudden the front doors flew open and flooded the room with a bright light. He dropped the items in his hands and shielded his eyes momentarily. When he looked to the door again, a group of men in white protective suits came into the room and gathered around him and Cloud. He stood up and backed away from the case as two of the men retrieved the virus.

"You have to help him." He told them, but they paid no attention to what he said and were already taking care of Cloud. Then one of them came up to him and tried to grab a hold of him. "What are you doing?!" He barked, punching the man in the chest. Soon a whole group of them was trying to grab onto him, and he struggled and thrashed to ward off his attackers. The other men had lifted Cloud off of the ground and were carrying him out the door into what looked like a tent. He understood now what was going on. These men were Umbrella scientists, and they had quarantined the mansion. And now they had the virus, which meant that he no longer had any evidence to use against Umbrella. But what were they going to with him and Cloud?

He managed to free himself from their grasps and began fighting them off with skillful punches and kicks. After he had put a few of them on the floor, he went over to the door to see where they were taking Cloud, calling out his name.

"Cloud!"

The scientists had strapped Cloud to a gurney. Cloud's injury continued to get worse, and now muscle fibers were crawling out of the cuts like worms, causing him to cry out from the immense pain.

"He's mutating." One of the scientists declared. "Put him into the Nemesis program."

"Cloud!" He called again. More of the scientists came toward him to try and subdue him, but he continued to fight them off in desperation. The scientists wheeled Cloud away, and he practically screamed Cloud's name as he saw him disappear from his sight. He kept struggling against the group of scientists…punching, kicking, thrashing, and doing everything he could to get away from them. He didn't know what was going to happen to him and Cloud, but whatever it was, he didn't want it to happen. Even so, he struggled to no avail. He called Cloud's name repeatedly, he demanded for his attackers to release him, and he fought down to the very last ounce of strength he had, but it was too late. After about seven or eight of them had grabbed onto him, they wrestled him to the floor and one of them stuck a syringe in his arm and tranquilized him. He didn't lose consciousness immediately, but he found he had no strength left to fight. They carried him into the tent and put him on a gurney, where he heard the voice of one of the scientists, who he presumed to be the head of the team.

"I want him quarantined, with close observations and a full series of blood tests. Let's see if he's infected."

For the next several minutes, he began fading in and out of consciousness. Each time he opened his eyes, he found himself staring up at a group of people in protective gear. He heard the leader's voice again.

"Take him to the Raccoon City facility, and then assemble the team."

He opened his eyes again, and found himself traveling down the white halls of a hospital. Disoriented, he slipped back into unconsciousness. Then he woke again under a set of very bright lights, with doctors wearing surgical masks and caps staring down at him, and he heard the voice once more.

"We're reopening the Hive. I want to know what happened down there."

His heavy eyelids closed slowly and before he completely lost consciousness, he heard the man's final words.

"Just do it."

…

While he slept, he dreamed vividly. He saw the faces of people that were familiar to him; or perhaps they were at one point but now they weren't. He relived the events within the Hive, from the moment he woke up in the mansion to the moment he saw Cloud taken away from him. Anything from his life prior to that incident just seemed like a dream in itself. He remembered everything, but none of it felt real. He had nothing left of himself now anyways…so why bother trying to bring it all back? He remained confined within the deep void of oblivion for what felt like an eternity. But a very faint voice from somewhere called to him, telling him to regain himself.

"…wake up…"

He dismissed the voice as just a part of the dreams at first, but gradually it began to get louder.

"…ra…wake up…"

He heard the voice say a name, but he couldn't quite make it out. The voice grew louder still commanding him to wake up, and he began to fight his way to consciousness. Then the voice called to him in a loud whisper.

"Sora."

…

His eyes flew open as he suddenly regained consciousness. His vision was blurred and all he saw was a vast, bright light. At first he thought himself to be dead, but the pain from a slight movement of his eyes due to the brightness of the room told him otherwise. He blinked repeatedly to try to get his eyes to focus, and when they did he found himself staring up at a white ceiling and a set of lights. He also saw some kind of machinery in the ceiling with small, clear tubes attached to it and leading down to where he was laying. He felt a chill from the air and something cold and hard against his backside.

He sat up slowly, but when he looked down at himself, his body stiffened and he screamed. He was completely naked, and the tubes from the machinery on the ceiling were hooked into his body by needles in several places. A few of his scars from old wounds had been reopened and were just beginning to heal over again. He had been lying on a steel surgical table, and a tray containing various instruments was beside it. He gasped for air in a confused panic momentarily, but then he remembered where he was and what had happened to him. He raised a trembling hand to the set of needles in his arm, and with a pained yelp, he ripped them out and tossed them aside. He did the same with the set in his other arm, his thighs, his legs, both his sides just below his ribs, and the back of his neck, until he reached up and felt a pair of them going into the side of his head. He shuddered, took a deep breath, and then he wrapped his fingers around the base of the needles and with a pained yell he pulled on them hard until they came out.

For a second, he felt dizzy and sick and his body convulsed violently. When he recovered, he pushed himself to the end of the table and slid off the edge, touching his feet to the cold floor. He tried to stand on his own, but his legs were too weak and gave way and he fell to the floor. The holes left from the needles were oozing blood, and he smeared a bit of it on the floor as he pushed himself under the table. He sat up on his knees and reached behind him, groping for a good hold on the table, and then he pulled himself to his feet and stood up on his own finally.

He found himself staring back at his reflection in a mirror. Fully aware of what kind of place he was in, he knew it was probably a one-way mirror that the scientists were using to keep him under observation. He hobbled over to the mirror and pressed up against it, shielding his eyes from the light to try and see into the room on the other side the glass. The other room was too dark for him to see anything, but there had to be someone inside.

"Who's in there?" He called. When he got no response, he pounded on the glass and shouted, "Let me out!" He pounded again, harder this time. "Let me out!" he yelled. "Who's in there?!" He breathed heavily and clenched his fists against the glass, waiting for another minute. No one answered. There wasn't even a call for security. He turned around and looked at the door, which looked like it had a key-card security system, and then he looked back at the surgical table. If no one else could let him out, then it appeared he would have to let himself out.

He went back over to the table and picked up a tube, pulling the needle off of the end of it. Then he went over to the door and leaned up against the wall beside it. He inserted the needle into the slot for the key-card, and slowly, he slid the needle down the slot until he found a small notch. He jammed the needle into the notch and pushed up, which caused an electrical surge in the system's hardware so that the door unlocked and opened. Before he left the room, he found a lab coat and put it on to cover himself up.

He came out into the hallways and looked around, trying to assess which way was out. He recognized various symbols that were adorning the hallway, particularly the biohazard warning and the Umbrella logo. He found signs on the walls indicating what was in which direction, and he followed the signs that led to the lobby and ultimately the way out. The strange thing was that the whole facility appeared to be vacant. There wasn't a single staff member or anyone that prevented him from leaving, even though he spotted security cameras in every hall that were tracking his movements, so someone could've easily been notified that he had escaped.

He reached the entrance to the hospital and went out the doors. Upon seeing the state of the outside street, he froze. Hundreds of vehicles lined the street…most of them wrecked and destroyed. The front windows of some stores were shattered, the broken glass strewn about on the sidewalk. Street lamps and power lines had fallen into the road and it was apparent that there was no power anywhere. Small fires even burned in the street, and there were loose papers flying around everywhere. There wasn't a single person in sight. He picked up a newspaper that fluttered over to him and looked at the headline. It read: "THE DEAD WALK!"

He dropped the paper and then began walking among the wreckage in the middle of the street, continuing to try and take in all of his surroundings. This time he knew it wasn't just a nightmare. This was all too real. He searched among the cars for something he knew he would need. When he came to a police car, he found what he needed and reached in, taking out a 12 gauge shotgun. He looked around once more taking in a full view of all the chaos, and then he cocked the shotgun. The nightmare was far from over…it was only the beginning.

* * *

Just a reminder that I've posted a topic in the KH forum about crossovers. If you have ideas you'd like to share with me, I'd be more than happy to help you flesh them out if you really want to. There's nothing an author loves more than fresh ideas! Other than that, drop me a review on the story, I'm itching to know how it turned out! Once I get a certain number of reviews, I'll be writing a parody of the first few chapters, so reviews are good.


	9. A Long Note From the Author

**A (Long) Note From the Author…**

Hey, GrapeFuzzBat here…just letting people know that I haven't dropped off the face of the earth. Heh heh! *sweatdrop*

It's been a pretty long time since I first started writing Kingdom Infected, and while it's still on a definite hiatus, I just wanted to let all you readers wondering when the next update will be that the fic is _not_ dead, it's just on the back-burner at the moment. A few reasons is that while I love writing fanfiction, it is not on the top of my priority list. Like every other author...well…most every other author, I have a life outside fanfic writing that I have to attend to first. Secondly, I've been re-thinking the direction of the story.

Between now and the time I first started writing, I actually have managed to play a Resident Evil game…le gasp! My friends that own Playstation 3s have shown me Resident Evil 5. It's pretty damn awesome. I haven't been able to play through the whole story, but I know the basics of it and did certain missions. If you remember at the beginning of the story I said that I suck at FPS games. I still kind of do, but that doesn't keep me from trying to play them and get into them. I think I'm actually going to be playing the Resident Evil games from now on. Huzzah! :D Also, ever since I started this project I've been doing extensive research into the games concerning the stories, characters, etc.

So some good news to look forward to story-wise: I will most likely be incorporating some plot points from the games. I won't tell you which ones yet of course. *wink* ;)

Next there's a few more points I want to cover concerning the Resident Evil movies and the nature of this story.

First off, this is _not_ a straightforward crossover…this is a fusion. If you didn't catch on from my note in the first chapter, I'm sticking the Kingdom Hearts characters, as well as a lot of other various Final Fantasy characters, into the roles of some of the Resident Evil characters. This story is taking place entirely in the Resident Evil universe…the KH characters are going to behave differently than they normally do. However, I will try my best to have them behave as close to their original incarnations as possible, with a few twists here and there to compensate for the continuity of this story.

I'm guessing some of you are turned off by the prologue because it sounds nothing like Sora, so let me just clear that up. The prologue, at the time I wrote it, was meant to be a sort of journal entry that Sora writes/dictates near the very end of the story…it goes without saying the guy has endured _quite a lot_ by that point, so he doesn't sound like his usual cheery self. Also in this story, he's not 15 like in Kingdom Hearts if you haven't guessed that. He's at least ten years older.

A question I get in reviews about the first part of the story is "How does Sora fit into it? I'm confused." I'll admit, the way I wrote the first part can be confusing, because you don't hear Sora's name. That's because he's an amnesiac during that part…he doesn't know who he is. So instead of saying his name, the narrator just says "He", because I tried to make it a third-person limited narrative to an extent. I had the narrator say the other characters' names as much as possible in order to differentiate between them and Sora as best as I could.

I'll admit that I was kind of relying on the readers to have known about or seen the movie, but I tried as best as I could to make it an easy to follow story even if you hadn't seen the movie. The good news is: Sora remembers who he is now, so you won't have to worry about that confusing narrative anymore. Yaaaaay! *claps*

Another question I get in reviews and PMs is "will I be adapting all the Resident Evil movies into the story?" The answer to this is a bit complicated. I will be to an extent, but I will also be improving them (I hope) and expanding on them with original storyline, as well as some stuff borrowed from the games.

The thing is, the movies are okay, but their plot has been deteriorating with each sequel. I started off completely following the first movie because it's got a pretty decent storyline and it does set up the premise for my fic fairly well. The biggest mistake I think I made was that I also just copied the characterization of the people in the movie without giving the KH and FF characters their own original flavor that makes them who they are. You readers have my word that I will be correcting this in the upcoming chapters.

I'll be adapting Apocalypse in the same way as the first movie with a few changes here and there, because it's fairly decent and it even borrows its plot from one of the games. However when I get to Extinction and the upcoming Afterlife, I'll probably start making some major changes to the movies plot wise and just mainly borrowing their action sequences. Extinction was still fairly decent and retained some of the horror element while being an action film. But I've seen some Afterlife trailers, and I have to say I'm a bit disappointed…it just looks like a cheesy action flick, and I hope that's where Paul W.S. Anderson finally decides to end the franchise instead of just making another one to cash in on it like they blatantly did with this one. I mean I know it takes place in Japan, but did they really have to give token mary sue Alice a pair of katanas and shuriken like she's some kind of cookie-cutter manga hero? _Come on!_ :P Anyways I'll still watch it to decide how I want to work some of the plot points into the story, but don't expect it to be exactly like the movie…ugh.

I think I'm done ranting now…if I missed something I wanted to mention or if someone has a question, I'll come back and edit this and answer any questions as best as I can.

**TL;DR? I'll update when I get around to it. In the meantime, deal with it. Mwahahahahaha-*COUGH COUGH COUGH*…ha. =D**

Thank you to everyone who has bothered to give my story a chance, and to all of you guys who reviewed. You have no idea how much I appreciate it, this was my first fic to begin with after all. I hope you'll enjoy the new chapters when I update. Until then, ja ne!

~GrapeFuzzBat


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